Palin courts the female vote

"Our opponents think that they have the women’s vote all locked up, which is a little presumptuous, since only our side has a woman on the ticket," Palin said.

"When the time came to make a decision, somehow Barack Obama just couldn’t bring himself to pick the woman who got 18 million votes," she added.

Palin, who has attained celebrity status since her surprise addition to the GOP ticket, was greeted by a raucous crowd at the Henderson Pavilion amphitheater, on Green Valley Parkway near Interstate 215. Citing officials, the campaign of Republican presidential nominee John McCain said more than 7,000 people attended the event, filling the tented facility’s shaded seats and much of its sun-drenched lawn.

The emphasis on women’s issues marked a departure from Palin’s usual rhetoric, perhaps in recognition of the fact that she was stumping in a part of the state where Democrats heavily outnumber Republicans and where Clinton beat Obama by a large margin in the state’s Jan. 19 caucuses.

"For the women in this audience and across the country, are you ready to break the highest, hardest glass ceiling in America?" the Alaska governor shouted to thunderous cheers during her 25-minute speech.

With Palin on stage to drive home the feminist theme were Lynn Forester de Rothschild, a former member of the Democratic National Committee and former Clinton supporter; Elaine Lafferty, a former editor of Ms. magazine; and National Organization for Women officials from California and Oregon. NOW has endorsed Obama.

Palin painted Obama’s selection of running mate as yet another instance of a male boss passing over a qualified female: "The qualifications are there, but the promotion never comes."

There’s always "some excuse," she said, but "that’s one thing I so admire about John McCain: He is not someone who makes excuses."

Clinton has been on the trail with and for Obama on a regular basis since he sewed up the Democratic nomination.

Palin also attacked Obama’s treatment of his female employees, saying the women on his Senate staff "get just 83 cents for every dollar the men get. … You’ve got to ask, what is with that? I know one senator who actually does pay women equal wages for equal work."

In fact, women on Obama’s staff don’t get less pay for the same work, according to Senate records, but there are fewer women in higher-ranking, higher-paid positions, lowering the overall average female salary. The Obama campaign responded to Palin’s charge Tuesday by saying Republicans were trying to distract from a poor record on women’s issues with an irrelevant statistic.

"Senator Obama has fought for equal pay for an equal day’s work, while Senator McCain has suggested that women don’t get equal pay because they need more education and training," Obama campaign senior strategist Anita Dunn said in a statement. "While Senator Obama has proposed a plan to help working women, the McCain-Palin campaign offers just more negative attacks and distortions."

In addition to calling for equal pay for equal work, Palin called for "a tax code that doesn’t penalize working families," especially single mothers, and laws that provide women with opportunities, such as the Title IX school sports code that she said "opened more than just the doors to the gymnasium." She said it symbolized new opportunities for women in traditionally male arenas.

"Working mothers need an advocate, and they will have one when this working mother is working for all of you," she said.

Palin paid tribute to a local woman, Irma Aguirre, owner of La Madonna restaurant and a local GOP activist, whom she compared to Joe the Plumber, the Ohio man who questioned Obama recently about his plans to raise taxes and became a conservative celebrity.

Obama’s economic plan, Palin said, "really is just a scheme for income distribution. Joe didn’t buy it — in fact, he said he thought that sure sounded like socialism. The rest of us shouldn’t buy it either, especially the millions of women who own small businesses."

Palin also spoke of the plight of women who live under repressive regimes where they are subject to honor killings, sex trafficking and forced abortions, saying they, too, would have an advocate if she were elected.

Audience member Cheryl Boyd, a 56-year-old teacher and Henderson resident, wore a T-shirt to the rally with the slogan, "I’m voting for Sarah Palin and that white-haired dude." She said she found Palin’s emphasis on women’s issues a little puzzling, considering there were plenty of men in the audience, too. "I guess they’re really going for the women’s vote," she said.

Boyd described herself as "one of those feminists who were burning their bras in the ’70s," but also as an anti-abortion Christian. She said she was "thrilled" at Palin’s inclusion on the Republican ticket, to which she had previously been lukewarm.

"I feel like she speaks for all women, and for life," Boyd said. "I’m appalled at the way the so-called feminists have been treating her. They’re not for women, they’re only for women who believe the same way as they do."

Outside the rally, where a line stretched around the block for hours before the event began, protester Karoline Khamis wore a burgundy ball gown and plastic tiara and held a sign reading "Rape Victims Deserve a Choice." Palin opposes abortion rights even in cases of rape and incest.

Khamis, a 30-year-old former rape victims’ counselor, said the costume was a "tribute" to Palin’s experience as a beauty queen. As the line of Palin fans streamed past, she and the dozen or so other pro-Obama activists on the corner of Green Valley and Paseo Verde parkways were the target of plenty of remarks, some more polite than others.

One man, Khamis said, yelled that he could tell she was a rape victim by what she was wearing, then quickly disappeared when she tried to engage him. Others, like 62-year-old Cookie Sclafani, tried earnestly to convince her she was misguided, without getting personal.

Sclafani, whose family owns a Henderson fencing company, said she, too, believed in abortion rights at Khamis’ age, but had since seen the error of her ways as abortions have been abused as a method of birth control by people on welfare.

"I’m a Democrat voting for a Republican because of moral issues," said Sclafani, who wore a pink button with the slogan, "Don’t Let the Lipstick Fool You: Pit Bulls for McCain-Palin." "Our country is a God-given country," she said.

Many audience members said Palin appealed to them as down to earth, a regular person who could sympathize with what they go through.

"I personally think she represents the pioneer spirit — purely American values," said Dan Markoff, 60, a lawyer in Las Vegas. "She has common sense, and she thinks about people before she thinks about building bureaucracies. Plus, she’s not running around with a bunch of weirdos and terrorists."

Earlier in the day Tuesday, Palin spoke in Reno, telling more than 2,000 supporters that Obama is not prepared to lead the nation.

"I do want a president who is ready to lead on Day One," she said. "I want a president with the experience, and the judgment and the wisdom and the truthfulness to be able to meet the next international crisis or better yet, to avoid the next international crisis."

Palin said recent comments by Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden that Obama will face a test of his leadership from America’s adversaries if elected president shows why McCain is the better choice for voters. Speaking at the Reno-Sparks Convention Center, she highlighted McCain’s economic proposals and his plans for energy development.

But Palin spent much of her time criticizing Obama, who she said would raise taxes and stifle business growth.

"John and I will lower your income taxes, and we will double the child tax deduction for every family," she said. "We will cut business taxes to keep American businesses in America."

Palin said Obama is not being candid about his tax plan, which he claims would result in lower taxes for 95 percent of working Americans.

"He is hiding his real agenda of redistributing your hard-earned money," she said. "John McCain and I, we’re for a real tax cut, which is when government just takes less of your earnings in the first place."

Review-Journal writer Sean Whaley contributed to this report. Contact reporter Molly Ball at mball@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2919.