Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Regarding the March 4 front-page article "To Women, So Much More Than Just a Candidate":

I support Sen. Barack Obama because I believe he represents change. I also don't think that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is "so much more than a candidate." A better headline would have been "To Some Women, So Much More Than Just a Candidate."

I also take exception to Marion Wagner of the National Organization for Women, who said that Mr. Obama's holding a chair for Ms. Clinton was somehow demeaning to her. I would not find it demeaning if a gentleman held a chair for me. But I would find it demeaning if my husband cheated on me the way Ms. Clinton's husband cheated on her.

I would have voted for Ms. Clinton in the Virginia primary had she left Bill Clinton. Staying with him set a bad example and was really demeaning to all women.

ANNA M. FASOLO

Leesburg

Like many staunch Democrats, I have felt great disappointment at some nasty campaigning by Sen.

Hillary Clinton and, especially, some of her prominent supporters.

In "A Double Standard on 'Reject and Denounce' " [op-ed, March 1], Colbert I. King rightly took Clinton adviser Ann Lewis to task for trying to incite Americans Jews against Sen. Barack Obama through false statements.

But Ms. Clinton deserves more slack than Mr. King allowed. The candidate was asked to respond to comments she had not heard. Asking her to denounce someone based on hearsay is not fair. Once Ms. Clinton had a chance to review her supporter's remarks, she issued the renunciation Mr. King desired.

There have been many examples of hypocrisy in this campaign. This was not one.

EDWARD FISCHMAN

Bethesda