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Damsel in the Debate
Hillary Rodham Clinton dons her new boxing gloves Wednesday in Washington.
(By Win Mcnamee -- Getty Images)
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Democratic pollster Geoffrey Garin made that point at a briefing yesterday by Emily's List, the pro-woman Democratic group that has endorsed Clinton.
"As the other candidates, the male candidates, frankly, attack her, it's not a free shot in terms of how this base of voters may react to that," he said. "It's not true that all of these women will take it as a neutral act, these kinds of attacks."
Added pollster Diane Feldman, "I think the attacks from other candidates are both a risk [for the men] and an opportunity for Senator Clinton, because the image of her standing up to the attacks and moving forward unfazed when there are . . . up to seven men attacking her . . . at once may well reinforce the 58 percent of women who feel that her being president may cause a change in attitudes toward women."
Count me with those 58 percent. A female president can't help but change attitudes toward women -- I believe for the better. But using gender this way is a setback. Hillary Clinton is woman enough to take these attacks like a man.

