What Women Are Saying About Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan

Published October 23, 2012 | By Pauline Olvera

So I was at a poker party last weekend. No. I wasn’t the designated driver for my husband during the Texas Hold ‘em Road Tour. I was invited to a pink poker night with some lady friends in the “hood.” Now, I make it a point not to talk business when I am out unless others bring it up, politics can be slightly contentious where I live. But wow! Was I surprised at how informed my lady folk were and I’m not just talking those deep, heavy-weighted, albeit important topics of today, like the economy, jobs etc… My lady friends are up to speed on all that. I’m talking the more intangible qualities of Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan. The light-hearted, easy-going analysis of how women view the potential next President and Vice-President of our county. Boy, it’s amazing what you can find out over a glass of chardonnay!

What I heard on that much needed night of brain rest, talk and laughter was exciting and funny, things like, “I saw the interview where he fixed the light-bulb with tin-foil. That is so something my father would do.” “What about when the kids and grand-kids all ran up on the stage after his speech and hugged him, reminded me of my dad.”

And Paul Ryan, reminding us of our own husbands, young and energetic, working out and working hard to make that summer vacation in Colorado possible. “I heard he hikes 14ers and hunts.” said a friend, “My brother hunts with his kids.”

I found myself surprised that women had noticed these things. I suppose being so wrapped up in the minutiae of it all I failed to take notice myself. But I found this night that women are perceiving, sensing, a connection between themselves and our candidates. Connecting on the basis of values, the way we lived our lives growing up. Remembering brighter days when our parents were young and our siblings annoyed us. What I heard was a yearning for the good old fashioned American lifestyle of our own childhood. “They just seem normal, like the rest of us.” said the host.

Could it be that on a subconscious level, we women will be voting for the ticket that reminds us of a better time? That encourages us to make it that way again? I don’t know, but I suspect it will.

Pauline Olvera is an Executive Officer on the Board of Governors for the grassroots organization The Colorado Hispanic Republicans