Female voters are hot commodity for presidential candidates

On the campaign trail, President Barack Obama continues his efforts to shore up support among women voters, as GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney vies for working-class voters.

The Associated Press/Washington Post: Obama And Romney Make Play For Female Voters, Working-Class Americans In Campaign Pitches
Republican candidate Mitt Romney and President Barack Obama are making hard sells to working-class and female voters while raising the volume on their criticism to fire up the party base and cast the other as an extremist. Romney's team thrust welfare into the campaign with an ad claiming that Obama planned to dole out taxpayer dollars to anyone, even those not trying to find work. For his part, Obama was set to appear Wednesday with Sandra Fluke, the Georgetown University student who became a flashpoint for women's health and, by proxy, abortion rights (8/8).

The Wall Street Journal's Washington Wire: Contraception Policy Advocate To Introduce Obama
President Barack Obama will draw fresh attention to his administration's decision to require most employers to offer free contraceptive coverage, when he's introduced in Denver Wednesday by Sandra Fluke, the young woman who came to prominence for supporting that policy (Meckler, 8/7).

ABC: Obama To Stoke 'War On Women' Debate In Colorado
President Obama kicks off a two-day campaign swing through Colorado today by stoking debate over an alleged Republican war on women. At his first stop here on a college campus, Obama will thrust the issue of women's health care back to center stage in the presidential race, casting rival Mitt Romney as out of touch with female voters and eager to "turn back the clock on decades of progress," according to his campaign. The president will emphasize provisions in his controversial health care law that benefit women, including the requirement that insurance companies cover a host of preventive health care services, such as contraception and breast cancer screenings, free of charge. Romney has said he would repeal the law and the expanded coverage rules, which took effect for the first time last week (Dwyer, 8/8).