At GW, Women Unbothered by Bob McDonnell's Views

Since the Washington Post reported that Virginia's Republican gubernatorial nominee Bob McDonnell's 1989 master's thesis called working women and feminists "detrimental to the family," we've wondered how much this news would hurt him among female voters.

But if the crowd of 300 he addressed at George Washington University on Wednesday night was any barometer, the answer might be: not much. In fact, among the women I spoke to -- all of whom said they plan to vote -- many said they were either unaware of the candidate's controversial thesis, or were untroubled by it.

Maura Reilly, a 21-year-old student at GW, said that her support for McDonnell boiled down to a core issue. "He's pro-life," she said, "that is the number one issue that's important to me." For Eva Hansen, a 19-year-old from California who plans to campaign for McDonnell, it was his fiscal policy and being "a family man" that first drew her to his candidacy. The statements in his thesis didn't rankle her at all: "If a woman decides to have a child, that's a career path she's choosing.''

Some women did express concern over the positions McDonnell advocated in his thesis, written when he was a 34-year-old student at Regent University, an evangelical school in Virginia Beach. "I'm someone who wants to be both a mom and a CEO. We should be able to do it all," said Rosemary Holt, a GW freshman majoring in Middle Eastern studies. Still, because McDonnell has backed away from the statements about working women, Holt said she would still support him -- "if his actions bear him out."

Taylor Lofquist, a student studying political science, was familiar with the controversy -- but thought it had been "blown out of proportion, especially in times like these, with our economic troubles." She added that, as a student herself, she could understand how his views would have changed. "I think for any college student, you're met with ideas beyond your usual spectrum, and any student with intellectual curiosity is going to be confronted by those."

Asked why she supports McDonnell, there was no hesitation: "Jobs," she said.

Even some of those registered to vote in states other than Virginia said they planned to campaign for McDonnell. It's women like Casey Welch, though, that McDonnell, 55, will most need to convince. A resident of Virginia Beach who wants to join the Peace Corps when she graduates, Welch is wavering between McDonnell and Democratic candidate Creigh Deeds; she's weighing each candidate's views on Virginia's transportation needs. And the state of the economy was also on her mind. "My mom was unemployed for 1½ years," she said. "She retired, and then trying to get back into the workforce was nearly impossible."

Though he didn't address the thesis issue directly during his appearance at GW, McDonnell did suggest forming a working mothers task force. Asked by Politics Daily if the recent controversy had prompted the proposal, McDonnell was adamant: "No, absolutely not."

"It was my wife who originally had the idea," he said. Expanding on the topic, McDonnell said the task force wouldn't just be mothers working outside the home but "moms in general," and added, "We've been talking about it since back in March."

Undecided voter Casey Welch found that hard to believe: "It seemed kind of like a plug for his thesis," she said. Nonetheless, McDonnell is still in the running for her vote, despite the controversy. "It's been 20 years," she said. "He's come a long way."