Posted on 12/08/2007 9:22:45 AM PST by shrinkermd
She's the ultimate professional woman. So you'd think Hillary Clinton's biggest source of support would be other alpha females.
But as the New York senator's presidential campaign works to mobilize women executives, doctors and lawyers around America, it's getting a reality check: Many have resisted the call-up. So far, she's doing better among women of more modest means.
Professional women are "much harder sells" than men. "They're tough." They are less inclined than men to see things in black and white, and seek more information before deciding, this adviser says. Events for businesswomen must be substantive, because they frequently ask more questions than businessmen, Sen. Clinton's advisers say.
Dr. Janice Werbinski, past president of American Medical Women's Association and an early Clinton supporter, says she didn't like the New York senator's answers in a recent conference call for female physicians. "Now I'm having second thoughts," she says.
"I saw the same thing when I ran for Senate the first time in 2000," Sen. Clinton said in an interview on Wednesday afternoon. "Professional women were the last to close for me." They were not about to support her just because of her gender, she said. "This is very much in line with what I've seen" in past campaigns.
...Among all women -- Democrats, Republicans and independents -- feelings toward Sen. Clinton vary with professional status, according to the latest Wall Street Journal/NBC national poll, taken in early November. Among nonprofessionals, 52% said they had positive impressions of her, while 38% were negative. But women who identify themselves as professionals or managers were markedly less enthusiastic, with 42% reporting positive impressions, and 44% negative.
Another challenge: Professional women are naturally higher-income than their nonprofessional peers, putting them squarely in the traditional low-tax, antiregulation territory of the Republican Party.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
All of this paid off. When they need assistance or support there are thousands ready to defend or encourage them.
This quality is much more common in successful, high level people than one would anticipate. I know, now someone will bring up Gates or Sergei, but they were not originally dependent on contacts and networking in order to make their technological efforts work. But most politicians have no real claim to fame other than their people skills.
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