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Romney's chicks

Mitt's kind of women
May 9, 2007 1:03:34 PM

070511_mitt_main

In raising more than $20 million over the first three months of this year, Mitt Romney showed a special touch with the fairer sex — the ones who keep house, anyway. More than $2.5 million of his donations — 12 percent of his total — came from donors who identified themselves as “homemakers,” a Phoenix analysis shows.

Try not to picture Romney as Max Bialystock shtupping old ladies for checks.

That $2.5 million was double the homemaker-donated amount raised by the runner-up in the category, Rudy Giuliani. John McCain was the only other presidential candidate in either party who topped a million. The Democrats, suffering from a significant homemaker gap, all together couldn’t match Romney’s total.

This is no great shocker. Romney previously raised hundreds of thousands of dollars from homemakers for his Commonwealth PAC, primarily from wives of the financial executives and CEOs backing him.

But it’s not just that homemakers give to Romney. It’s that business women don’t. Romney’s long list of donors reveals a remarkable dearth of working women willing to put their hard-earned cash into Romney’s coffers.

Roughly 7100 individuals gave between $1800 and the $2300 maximum allowed by law, accounting for about two-thirds of Romney’s $20 million total. About two-thirds of those big donors were men.

Of the 2400 women, 1060 listed themselves as homemakers. Another 392 listed no occupation at all. Add those who listed themselves as retired, students, or volunteers — and those whom the Phoenix was able to identify as having listed their husbands’ jobs — and the list is down to just 698 women with jobs among Romney’s big donors.

Of those, 82 work for their husbands, and another dozen run their family charitable trusts. Another 173 are self-employed; the most common occupations among them are interior designer, investor, designer, consultant, and artist. Another five work for Romney’s campaign.

Just 426 of Romney’s 7100 big donors, then, are women who work for someone other than themselves, their husbands, or . . . Romney. Many of them have jobs unlikely to leave them with $2300 to spare. And fewer than 250 are employed in finance, management, legal, real estate, or medical positions — unlike the majority of Romney’s male donors. Maybe they’re not his kind of woman. Or maybe he’s not their kind of man.

COMMENTS

Ya know, it's hard not to be cynical when you see this sort of thing. A few days ago this author publishes; "The Rats in Romney's Corner" ('The dirty tricksters behind Romney's money.'). Today he comes out with an article trying to find a negative spin for the fact that Romney has connected so much better with women homemakers. I guess we now know that in the mind of Dave BERNSTEIN women homemakers = dirty tricksters & rats. Of course the bias of Mr. Bernstein is so painfully obvious that he has actually published two articles that show this guy is far more interested in finding a negative spin than in consistent & fair-minded analysis. Sad.

POSTED BY Taylor AT 05/09/07 5:00 PM
Taylor seems to have a problem with someone telling the truth. WHY would ANY woman support a Mormon? It's NOT like they believe in women's rights or anything "radical" like that. Do these "homemakers" (HOUSEWIVES) have their hubbies' PERMISSION to be involved in POLITICAL stuff?

POSTED BY Terry C AT 05/10/07 7:26 AM
@ Terry C & David B, Apparently you have a problem with women who love their children enough to sacrifice their self-gratifying corporate advancement and a second income so they can teach their children and not shirk that responsibility to some daycare. Perhaps these women are supporting Romney because he represents the traditional family values that they hold so dear. Put it in context. Romney raises 2x the amount of money as Guiliani. Romney raised 2x the money from housewives as Guiliani. The proportions add up to me. Don't forget that Guiliani, a man who lied to 2 of his wives might not have the same respect from the American mother as Romney, a man married to the same woman for almost 40 years with 5 successful children. Next time don't spin these things through your obvious prejudices.

POSTED BY bpetersen AT 05/10/07 6:15 PM
Wow, that was really amusing. Ya gotta give credit to Romney. So far he's not a bloodthirsty chickenhawk warmonger. He's just your average American sleazbag. Funny how if this day and age average sleazebag seems relatively meritorious! Republican campaign slogan for 2008: Vote for the sleazebag!

POSTED BY Cole K AT 05/15/07 9:10 PM
YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING???? Maybe the women who Mr. Berstein used in his statistics had more time than I did that day! Get this statistic for your mind to get around, Davey Dear. I am a 'professional' woman (earn 3X what my husband earns even though that doesn't matter one iota) and of all things - gasp! - a MORMON. Get a clue. Not all of us are home baking brownies and having baby showers (although I still do those things occasionally :-0) I support Mitt because I am sick of paying taxes up the ying yang too. I want the mess in Washington fixed too. Listen, Dude, I AM the CEO, I AM a Mormon Mom, and my husband and I are equal partners in our marriage and parenthood. Quit generalizing Romney supporters AND Mormon women!!!

POSTED BY DesertDiva AT 05/16/07 4:12 AM
All I got out of this article is that David Bernstein is a bigot.

POSTED BY Cactus Wren AT 05/16/07 6:55 AM
P.S. Dave - have you ever considered that some of the men listed as donors actually have wives with careers and good incomes too? My husband and I contribute as partners but most often list any contributions under his name because he is the 'head of household' although I make more money and we are EQUAL partners. You cannot make any assumptions from those statistics you used.

POSTED BY DesertDiva AT 05/19/07 7:31 PM

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