(CNN) -- This week the Democratic National Convention isn't running away from the abortion issue. Almost all of Tuesday night's speakers made some reference to reproductive freedom, from Nancy Keenan of NARAL to Michelle Obama. So confidently and constantly was it mentioned that it became something of a litany. Deval Patrick is for it, Martin O'Malley wants it passionately, Julian Castro sees it as a fundamental right. In case you missed it, the Democrats really, really believe in reproductive freedom. The electoral message is that Mitt Romney and the Republicans are waging a war on women, or at least a concerted effort to limit access to contraception and abortion. The goal is to expand the gender voting gap to the Democratic Party's advantage. And also to turn out the base -- reviving the liberal coalition that put Barack Obama in office in 2008
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Tim Stanley: Democrats are not running from abortion issue, just the opposite
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He says Mitt Romney avoids it -- a switch for GOP, which has long used it as wedge issue
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Stanley: Unlike top Democrats in past, Obama makes it clear he supports abortion rights
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Stanley: Obama, Democrats risk sounding like "war on women" fight more important than jobs
Mitt Romney
Mitt Romney
By contrast, @placeholder seems to be avoiding abortion talk as much as possible.
Republicans
GOP
No one doubts that the @placeholder is as anti-abortion as ever, but it seems to regard the matter as a distraction from this election's central issue -- jobs.
Democrats
Democratic Party
Democrats
Democrats
It used to be Republicans who used abortion as a wedge issue against @placeholder.
Republicans
GOP
For more than 30 years, @placeholder used abortion partly from conviction, partly to win religious voters and partly just to keep the Democrats on a back foot, forcing them constantly to equivocate in a manner that made them seem muddled or the prisoner of the feminist lobby.
Republicans
GOP
If the Democrats wanted a moral issue to beat the @placeholder with, they'd probably be better off focusing on same-sex marriage.
Michelle Obama
Obama
Obama
But maybe it all comes back to likability -- something that @placeholder easily outranks Romney on.
Michelle Obama
Obama
Obama
Perhaps @placeholder is using abortion less as a specific issue to wedge between Republicans and women than as a way of accentuating the infamous Romney "weirdo factor."
Mitt Romney
Mitt Romney
Perhaps Obama is using abortion less as a specific issue to wedge between Republicans and women than as a way of accentuating the infamous @placeholder "weirdo factor."