We're Still Listening

They entered the ring again last night and there was an occasional feint toward women or a jab at one of our issues, but overall.....lots of talking at us... not much talking with or to us...

long on statistics ... short on empathy

Kerry did mention equal pay for women, something women have said that they want to hear about but haven't:

"If we raise the minimum wage, which I will do over several years to $7 an
hour, 9.2 million women who are trying to raise their families would earn
another $3,800 a year.

The president has denied 9.2 million women $3,800 a year, but he
doesn't hesitate to fight for $136,000 to a millionaire.

One percent of America got $89 billion last year in a tax cut, but
people working hard, playing by the rules, trying to take care of their kids,
family values, that we're supposed to value so much in America -- I'm tired of
politicians who talk about family values and don't value families.

What we need to do is raise the minimum wage. We also need to hold onto
equal pay. Women work for 76 cents on the dollar for the same work that men do.
That's not right in America.

And we had an initiative that we were working on to raise women's pay.
They've cut it off. They've stopped it. They don't enforce these kinds of
things."

And both candidates talked about their competing health care plans.

Kerry reaffirmed his commitment to procurement goals for minority businesses (no mention of the 5% goal for WBO's); Bush talked about ending contract bundling (which the data show he has not done; OMB said recently that bundling is at an all time high).

But it all seemed to come from their heads ... even when they talked about the strong women in their lives (Kerry seemed even less able to connect with feelings here).

I'm still looking for the guy who can genuinely speak from the heart without losing his head...

I'm still looking for the "real deal."