Romney made plenty of his own mistakes in his run for the White House. Mostly, his ground game did not match Obama's, but there were three mistakes that really cost Romney the women's vote. But these were not his gaffes. According to one blogger, it was the moderate Republican women who did not turn out for Romney, not just the conservative women.
What turned women off? How about these costly stands?
1. Rick Santorum's comments about birth control. This was not just a single gaffe, this is Santorum's personal belief. Santorum did not win the nomination, but this is his repeated stance. It became a real issue when Santorum, for a brief period of time, because the GOP front runner. There are many, even staunch conservative women, who are turned off by stances such as this. These issues were known by Republicans long before Santorum ever considered running president, which was most costly of all. In Ohio, Santorum finished a close second to Romney in the primary election there. Think Ohio women forgot about all of that?
2. Todd Akin's Legitimate Rape Comments. These insensitive and uneducated comments shed a bad light, not just on the Missouri US Senate Race, but on the entire national Republican party. Even though he later said his comments were insensitive, he affirmed that he was still opposed to abortion after rape, which is an extreme position. In the final analysis, it probably was not the back breaker in that race, but could have been the difference in a state where the female vote could have changed the election, like Ohio. Yes, this happened in Missouri, but this gaffe was heard round the world, even in Ohio.
3. Richard Murdock's comments about pregnancy after rape. Murdock, the Tea Party candidate who unseated Dick Lugar in the primaries, said that pregancy after rape is something that "God Intended." That brings up another question, did God intend the rape? Another comment about a very sensitive issue for women that was just insensitive. This may have re-affirmed, on a national level, that Republicans were insensitive about women's issues. It may not have been the difference in Indiana, where Romney won and Murdock lost, but in states like Ohio and Florida, it may have cost the GOP the White House.
Overall, what happened in Indiana is a lesson that I will address in another blog. It's an important one to learn, but obviously, the fiscal conservative who unseated Dick Lugar was not properly vetted by the Tea Party group that backed him before running for office.
Again, I caution about painting with broad strokes. Each Republican woman who voted for Obama or stayed home on election day has her own reason for doing so. But certainly insensitive comments about birth control and rape certainly did not help in the long run.
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