The Long Kiss Goodbye

By John Gartner, AlterNet. Posted October 2, 2004.

Nicole Halpern's decision to become politically active came down to two numbers: 22 million and 537. Earlier this year, Halpern, a 30-year-old, living in San Francisco, heard that 22 million single women did not vote in the 2000 election, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau. That fact, combined with the slim margin of President Bush's victory in Florida (537 votes) made Halpern realize that single women could and should make a difference in this election.

So on July 3, Halpern started WAKEup2004.com, which stands for Women Advocate Kerry Edwards. "I was frustrated about the actions of this administration and decided to channel my frustration and sadness into this project," Halpern said. She said that like many other women, she has been intimidated by politics, and was frustrated by all of the negativity in the political process. "Candidates would always say one thing and do another."

WAKEup's lofty goal is to get 2.2 million single women to register and vote for the Democratic ticket. The group distributes information about both candidates' positions on issues using the Internet and some old-fashioned communications techniques. WAKEup encourages women to distribute a chain letter it produced to at least five of their single friends to encourage them to register and vote.

WAKEUP volunteers kicked off the campaign by sending 500 letters to female friends across the country, with special emphasis on swing states. Halpern said WAKEUP is also putting up posters in laundromats and is organizing 500 social events in 25 days to increase awareness about the importance of voting. Halpern said that on Oct. 19, participants will gather at post offices to send letters to the White House with a lipstick kiss on the envelope "kissing the President goodbye."

"We are going to break the Bush jinx by having fun," Halpern said. "Getting involved can be very empowering."

The bevy of female-oriented get-out-the-vote groups spawned this year includes both non-partisan and left-leaning initiatives using a variety of communication techniques. GetOutHerVote.org, a spin-off from the Feminist Majority Foundation, is organizing teams of women on college campuses to recruit young women to register to vote, while 1000flowers.org is distributing beauty kits with the get-out-the-vote message to 1000 beauty salons.

Women's Voices, Women Vote is a research-based campaign collecting data about how to most effectively reach unmarried women who do not vote. The clearly partisan WomenAgainstBush.org is organizing cocktail parties to reinforce its message of protecting women's rights by voting.

So could these independent efforts add up to something tangible at the ballot box?

Maybe so, according to Dianne Bystrom, the director of the Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics at Iowa State University. Bystrom said that because single women tend to vote heavily democratic, a "one to three percent increase in the number of single women voting could make the difference in the election."

Bystrom said that focusing on recruiting single women would help John Kerry because of a "marriage" gap in women's voting tendencies. Bystrom said that an August poll conducted by USA Today, CNN and the Gallup Organization showed a 38-point gap in preference for president, as Bush lead by a 13 percent margin with married women, while Kerry led by 25 percent with single women.

Single women are more concerned about health care and the economy since 54 percent of unmarried women earn less than $30K per year, according to Bystrom. Married women, who tend to live in households with higher incomes, focus more on terrorism and security, she said.

John Gartner is a Philadelphia-based freelance writer.

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