this evening, and as I watched, I thought of the women’s vote.

I am one of those who isn’t a believer that Rubio would bring along much of the so-called Hispanic vote, if California’s Mexican-Americans are any measure of the voting behavior of others in the nation. As identity politics go, I don’t think Mexican-Americans , most of whom are Mestizo, will identify with a Cuban-American, especially one they recognize is of Euro/Spanish heritage. Perhaps in some states this would be different and, yes, there are Hispanics other than Mexican-Americans, but I don’t know if their numbers in toss-up states are enough to matter. I’ll leave that to the number’s crunchers and pollsters.

While Rubio is attractive for all kinds of reasons, I was struck by how likely it is that women would love him. Yes, he’s physically attractive, but it’s something that goes beyond that.
He conveys a boyish charm coupled with intelligence, and women perceive him as non-threatening and warm. I’ve no idea if he’s warm or not, but from a viewer’s perspective, that is how women will perceive him. When he speaks of his mother and her social security, I have a very hard time believing women won’t trust him, love him.

The business-savvy, straight-laced Romney coupled with the boyishly charming and bright young man is a great combo to appeal to women–kind of like offering up Robert Young in “Father Knows Best” and the young, empathic Doctor Kildare.

Of course, the big problem is that Rubio has no executive experience and very little experience at the federal level, which is not an insurmountable problem but it surely would keep the nominee and his running mate from saying Obama was simply not “ready” for the job.

They say you can’t win elections with the VP choice, only lose it with the choice, but in Rubio’s case, I can see lots of women coming around to the GOP because they can see the combination of strengths of the duo.

above. My friends had a visceral negative reaction to Sarah Palin. It had nothing to do with her being pretty as in my tight group of friends, I’d say most are quite the lookers themselves. It had to do with Palin not seeming knowledgeable about the world.

I think too that it’s always been disingenuous and foolhardy for Palin lovers to insist she was knowledgable about history and world affairs. She clearly was not and still isn’t. I voted McCain/Palin and tried to talk others into doing the same so frightened was I by the socialist Obam, but admittedly I was disturbed, once I discovered how uninformed she was, by McCain’s choice of her to be a heart-beat away, and I was among the very disappointed when she didn’t finish her term as governor and equally disappointed when I saw that she still wasn’t really educating herself about the world in a serious manner. I think she’d make a great governor (as long as she didn’t quit again), and we could really use someone like her in California.

It’s my armchair analysis that what many college educated women found objectionable in Palin is that they felt the old perceptions of women as capricious and unserious, (they pointed to how Palin jumped from one school to another and another, her final choice of a major-communications- a choice that to them represented evidence of her desire to be in the camera’s eye), light on substance, were likey to be reinforced by Sarah as a representative of women. Many of them had fought to be taken seriously in their own chosen profession when they were young, many having been viewed as “great looking” and many having experienced condescension, so you’d have thought they might have identified with Sarah, but alas, they viewed her as her opponents did, as someone taking shortcuts to high position, someone unprepared for the job, and they felt that would set back their gains.

I found the same visceral reaction to Cain’s candidacy from my black colleagues. They didn’t see him as a “Tom” at all, thankfully, but they were embarrasssed by what they called his “schuckin’ and jivin’ manner, by his diction, by his admitted lack of knowledge of foreign affairs, and by his one pony candidacy (9-9-9). To them, he was a successful businessman, but they didn’t want him as representative of them–blacks. In short, they were mindful that many think of blacks as fast-talking jivers, and that’s how they saw Cain…or at least that is how they feared non-black Americans saw Cain, and they wanted an urbane, sophisticated symbol to represent them. They feel they have that in Obama. It’s all about symbolism. Isn’t is, usually?

My friend’s rejection of Palin was about symbolism too although they had the same concerns I did about her lack of preparation for an office as high as that of VP. Nevertheless, they wouldn’t even hear me out about Palin’s dogged and courageous taking on of the big boys in oil in AK. I told them, “You’re always ragging on Big Oil, you Dems, yet when I try to tell you about someone who didn’t fear taking them on, you pooh-pooh it.”

Oh, well, that ship has sailed.

was writing my previous post, I kept thinking about how much we suffer from Americans always wanting to be “cool.” “Cool,” was something the young aspired to be decades ago, whether it was by sporting a certain style in their clothing, owning a certain type of car, walking a certain way, etc.

What has so disturbed me is that millions of adults now desire being “cool,” a need that generations before them outgrew as they left adolescence, married, had kids, raised their families. I guess it’s because it’s grown easier to, more acceptable, to cling to youth.

Obama represented “cool”–his walk, his talk, his race. I hope that has worn off with enough of the electorate. I hope they realize that what they perceived as cool is inept, all talk, a guy unable to walk the talk.

It’s Rubio’s as well, but he did have experience in the Florida senate. I don’t know Martinez’s background. Any legislative experience?

Okay, just thinking aloud here: Both Rubio and Martinez will be portrayed as inexperienced. I don’t know how that will play out. I’ve seen the Governor just once or twice in small bits and she does seem very personable, but I don’t know much else.

I do know this: Women candidates, esp. those who are unknown and w/out a long history of service, will be more derided than male candidates. Much of this derision and skepticism, in fact, most, is likely to come from women. Women are more more judgemental and wary of other women than they are of men. It’s literally in our DNA, a product of our instinct for competition in mate selection.
It really is true women whisper, “I’d rather work for a man than a woman.” (BTW, this played into the Palin reaction as well. Hilary is accepted by the libs and by other women now, but there was strong distrust of her by other women for years. The public humiliation of Bill’s philandering made women soften their attitude toward her and in many ways made her a heroine among many women Dems. However, she still came in second to THE ONE when push came to shove, and that means women voted for THE ONE.)

So, all other things being equal, I’d say Rubio would fare much better against attacks of “newbie.”

As for how Cuban-Americans would look upon Mrs. Martinez? Maybe our Floridian friends will speak to that as I am not familiar with only a handful of Cuban-Americans, but Florida is likely to be mucho importante, so….Rubio there is important, I’d say. Unless his polling there as a senator is weak. Is it? I haven’t heard much about that lately.

Now, the big questions about Gov. Martinez are 1) Will Mexican-Americans and other Hispanics turn to the GOP because of her. Answer: I really don’t know. I do know that first and second generation Mexican-Americans in CA are very much of the belief that women should never outshine the male. Will a first…the first Mexican-American nominated for the second highest office in the land somehow undercut their machismo? I simply don’t know.

I think her campaigning and speaking in Spanish would help bring them along. Of course, I suspect Rubio can do that as well?

2) Will women be won over by a woman for high office? Well, certainly the Obama lovers won’t be, but maybe the independent women will be. It would be a first.

Wow. It’s good to have choices! Geez, this is when you wish you could say “Gov. Martinez has been a gov. for 5 years” or so.

I’d say that between the two of them, I’d ask, “On the stump, who’s more effective? Who is likely to do the best in a VP debate?”

I’ve seen enough of Rubio to answer how I feel he’d measure up, but admittedly, I haven’t seen enough of the Governor.

high numbers of Mexican-Americans of today where I live are, sadly, only culturally Catholic.