When I was covering the presidential race in 2008, I was convinced that I was covering the most epic campaign of my career. Hillary Clinton was the candidate many Democrats deemed inevitable, but then Barack Obama came along. Their face-off went on so long, I thought that was going to be the campaign of our lifetime.
And then 2016 happened.
There are so many fascinating plots and subplots to this presidential campaign. Courting women voters and being able to find a way to do that successfully is the magic to winning or losing in any year. This year, that phenomenon is on steroids. On one level it’s obvious — you have the first female nominee of a major party who wants to be the first woman president of the United States. And then comes Donald Trump’s October surprise: the allegations of groping women and the 2005 tape in which Trump makes lewd remarks about things he says he has done to women. All of that makes the whole question of how women are going to vote even more fascinating.
It’s one thing to sit in Washington or sit in your office and talk to sources on the phone and read polls, but there is nothing like being right here on the ground and talking to the actual voters — the people who will decide this election and have very strong opinions and nuanced ideas about what’s happening, and why it matters, and why it affects their vote.
Over and over during the two decades I have covered politics for CNN I have returned to the so-called collar counties of the Philadelphia suburbs. They’re always important — a place to put your finger on the pulse of the electorate — people who are going to decide elections, whether it’s statewide or national elections.
And this year that is especially true because Donald Trump needs Pennsylvania. He says it, and his campaign aides say it. If they don’t win Pennsylvania, which has voted for a Democrat for president since 1992, then they’re going to have to find another blue state to win. They think this is one of their best bets.
What I have found so fascinating is that women on the Republican side who are vehemently anti-Hillary Clinton almost get offended when you ask them, “Well, what about having the first female president?” Almost to a person their answer is, “That’s fine, but I’m not going to vote based on gender.” They consider that the feminist answer, that everybody should be treated and should be judged equally based on their merits, based on their experience, based on what they will do as president. A lot of female Republicans in these critical swing districts and swing counties of suburban Philadelphia say her gender doesn’t matter.
As much as I like to get a sense of what is really going on the ground, I am not the road warrior I once was. I travel very little compared to what I would be doing if I didn’t have a son at home. In 2008 I was on the road for more than 300 days during that whole year, and that is just not something I want to do right now. I’m trying to have that balance that every woman knows is so hard to find. Luckily we have technology now. I can FaceTime with my son. He can call me when he can’t find his shorts for soccer.
He can call me to complain because I won’t let him watch TV, and things like that. A lot of times when you see me on my phone — I am trying to multitask. I’m doing source texting and emails, but also making sure that the play date that I setup for my son was good to go, and making sure that the school knew that my son’s friend’s mom was going to pick him up and not his babysitter.
All those things are woven into the everyday life of every working mom, and it doesn’t matter if you’re on the road using your phone, or if you’re sitting at your desk using your computer.
I do think being a mother definitely makes me a better journalist. I genuinely see the world differently, I see the world as a place that’s not just for me to use my voice and voyeuristic sensibilities as a reporter to find out what’s really going on — it’s now so many levels and layers deeper than that. I know this sounds really cheesy, but it’s true.
It’s not just trying to figure out what’s going on for the sake of knowing, but its about making sure that this is going to be an okay place for my son. Not choosing sides — but being more aggressive in calling out what is not factually accurate when we’re being BS-ed. Trying to get a real sense of who these people are who want to lead our country. It has always mattered to me, but now as a mom, it matters infinitely more.