Sen. Obama to reach out again to women voters

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) will continue his outreach to female voters Thursday when he returns to Capitol Hill for a meeting with female Democratic House members.

“This is his chance to seal the deal with women members,” said Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), formerly an ardent supporter of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) who now fully supports Obama and plans to attend.

The afternoon session at Democratic National Committee headquarters is the final part of Obama’s outreach to the representatives of divided constituencies. He met with the Congressional Black and Hispanic caucuses last week, but the meeting with female members got delayed.

Obama is struggling to bring Clinton’s supporters fully into the fold after a campaign that even some of his supporters contend was marred by sexism. Most former Clinton supporters in Congress say they’re fully on board with the Obama campaign, but tension remains.

Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Calif.) and other Latina Democrats reportedly declined to attend a Congressional Hispanic Caucus meeting with Obama earlier this month that was part of the same round of mend-the-fence sessions. And Rep. Ellen Tauscher (D-Calif.), a former Clinton supporter, has endorsed the meeting but said of attending: “I’m sure I’ll be busy.”

The meeting follows Clinton’s celebrated return to the Senate, which included a speech Wednesday to a closed meeting of the House Democratic Caucus. Democrats are hoping that meeting went far to dispel whatever lingering tension exists.

Members attending the session said Obama can expect to be pressed on whether he’ll have more women in his Cabinet, his position on appointing Supreme Court justices who support the Roe v. Wade abortion decision and his support for family legislation.

He’ll also likely be questioned and lobbied on his vice presidential choice, particularly the idea of selecting Clinton to join him on the ticket. And he’ll be pressed on the question of sexism in the campaign.

“I’d like to hear him give the same speech he gave on racist situations about sexist situations,” said Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.).