Women Take Over the Electoral Campaign in the United States

There are 145 female Republican candidates. Michelle Obama comes out to stop the wave of conservative activism.

Inspired by the former Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin, this year conservative women have invaded the political scene in the United States as they have never done before. It is a phenomenon without precedent. In the electoral campaign, which concludes Nov. 2nd with the renewal of all the seats in the House of Representatives and a third of the seats in the Senate, there are currently 145 conservative female candidates — 126* who aspire to be congresswomen and 17 who seek seats in the Senate.

With slogans like “We must end federal intervention in the economy and our everyday lives,” their objectives include reversing the law that legalized abortion and prohibiting gay marriage nationwide.

With Democratic House of Representatives superstar Nancy Pelosi highly criticized, the Democrats hope that First Lady Michelle Obama — on the campaign trail since last Wednesday — can assist in halting the wave of female conservative activists. With a higher approval rating than her husband, and having been named the most powerful woman in the world by Fortune** magazine, Michelle accepted the challenge and left completely determined to motivate her party’s women. Her task will not be easy.

Many female Democrats are disappointed with Obama. They believe that he made too many concessions in order for his health care reform bill to pass. They accuse him of prohibiting the use of federal funds for abortions in hospitals.

“Obama did not reach the heights of the expectations he generated. It scares me that Sarah Palin and her followers want to eliminate all the rights we acquired during the cultural revolution of the 1960s,” said Meg Smith, a 58-year-old teacher, who was sitting next to me this Monday morning on the subway in New York. “It doesn’t make sense that they would want to eliminate everything which has permitted them to enter politics. Obama should have been more aggressive,” she argued.

“I know that a lot of folks are still hurting. And I know for so many people, change has not come fast enough. Believe me, it hasn’t come fast enough for Barack, either,” Michelle Obama said hours later during an appearance organized by [Sarah] Jessica Parker, the main actress on “Sex and the City,” to collect funds for Democratic candidates. Many of those present paid up to $2,500 to listen to the first lady. Michelle shined radiantly in a dark, gray, shiny and strapless dress.

“Our campaign was never just about putting one man in the White House. It was always about building a movement for change millions of voices strong and a movement that lasts beyond one year and beyond one campaign,” she said.

In fact, that is the very same objective that Sarah Palin proposed when, after having lost the elections in 2008 when she entered the presidential race with Republican candidate John McCain, she decided to quit the governorship of Alaska to completely dedicate herself to politics. Shortly thereafter, Palin transformed into one of the principal figures of the tea party, an ultraconservative movement that has dedicated itself this year to promoting candidates.

Presently, Palin is on tour on a bus — the “Tea Party Express” — along with the chairman of the Republican Party, Michael Steele, traveling the country with one sole purpose: mobilizing the electorate to take control away from the Democratic Party that holds a majority in the House of Representatives and the Senate. The tour includes 32 states.

*Editor’s Note: There are 128 conservative female candidates seeking a seat in the House of Representatives.

**Editor’s Note: Michelle Obama was named the most powerful woman in the world by Forbes magazine.