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Candidates for Governor Wooing the Ladies

Just as the summer days are heating up, so is the governor’s race. Some of the candidates are actively wooing the women’s vote.

“I don’t view women as a special interest. I view ‘em as Louisiana’s interest, with an absolutely deserving right to sit at every table, with equal pay for equal work,” Republican Scott Angelle says in one of his ads.

“Scott Angelle’s trying desperately to be in the runoff with Vitter at this point, and he’s appealing to women,” U-L Lafayette political science professor Pearson Cross observes.

 But he also notes that despite the campaign commercial, Angelle has waffled when asked by reporters about supporting legislation that would require equal pay.

“He wants a friendly, nicer campaign that appeals to women, but at the same time he doesn’t want to forsake what he sees as his base, which is conservative,” Cross says. “So he’s trying to play both sides against the middle on this particular issue.”

Jay Dardenne’s strategy involves speaking to women’s groups, as often as possible.

“It’s kind of natural to him to reach out in the way he’s reaching out,” Cross remarks. “The real question is, is that going to pay off at the ballot box? Right now it’s certainly not being reflected in polls.”

Cross says what is showing in the polls is a growing gender gap in support for Vitter.

“Women voters are much less likely to support Vitter than men voters are, even if they are Republican.”

Cross believes that a 15-percent difference between male and female support for Vitter shown in recent polls can be attributed to the 2007 D.C. Madam scandal. Vitter acknowledged it at the time as “a serious sin.”

“I think it’s got some longevity with women,” Cross states. “There was something about the ‘serious sin’ that really stuck in the craw of women, and I think it had to do with the double standard and the wife would just have to put up with it.”

Since 54 percent of Louisiana’s registered voters are women, the ladies may very well hold the key to the governor’s mansion.