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"When something big--let me correct myself and say what I mean: something BIG--happens in politics regarding women&amp;#x27;s issues, Glamour is there. Yesterday at Obama&amp;#x27;s Chicago HQ, campaign officials held a women&amp;#x27;s round table with writers, editors, and some headline-snagging names sharing their anecdotes and support for the President. But the take-away story of the day: that your voice as a young woman in this very polarizing election is going to matter significantly. When Linda Kramer-Jenning, our intrepid Washington, DC correspondent walked into the &amp;quot;cavernous Obama reelection headquarters&amp;quot; for the roundtable on women&amp;#x27;s issues, the first thing she noticed was the gigantic whiteboard with the countdown to Election Day 2012 (November 6--mark your cals!). &amp;quot;I was struck by the quiet intensity of the campaign workers, and by the fact that many perched on super-sized exercise balls instead of chairs,&amp;quot; she told me. &amp;quot;Do you need a great core to work for Obama?&amp;quot; Here&amp;#x27;s what else Kramer Jenning told me about her visit to the surprisingly intimate roundtable: &amp;quot;As a campaign spokeswoman escorted me past the rows and rows (think what a call center might look like) of staffers, she said that being in her 30s, she feels like she&amp;#x27;s one of the older staffers. Most of President Obama&amp;#x27;s 500 staffers are women. Deputy campaign managers Stephanie Cutter and Jen O&amp;#x27;Malley Dillon told the June 13 round table that women make up a majority of Obama&amp;#x27;s campaign staff. This makes sense when you realize that women also make of the majority of registered voters and a higher percent turn out to vote. So voters like you are very much on the radar of Obama&amp;#x27;s team (#womenvote2012), and while you helped Obama win four years ago, Cutter, Dillon, Ewing, and Kate Chapek (the women&amp;#x27;s vote director) and the rest of the reelection team aren&amp;#x27;t taking your support for granted. &amp;#x27;Our challenge is to make sure everyone understands the importance of this election,&amp;#x27; said Cutter, who emphasizes that Obama and Gov. Mitt Romney present a &amp;#x27;stark choice.&amp;#x27; I have no doubt that Romney&amp;#x27;s team would agree with that assessment.&amp;quot; And, yes, I mentioned a few celebs there--so what&amp;#x27;d they have to say? Elizabeth Banks (yep, there she is above, with Nia Long hanging out right there, too! LKJ, as we call her at the U.S.S. Glamour, snapped that pic on her iPhone) advocated for Obama, saying, &amp;quot;He&amp;#x27;s going to protect my right to keep making babies on my own schedule.&amp;quot; Banks shared personal struggles with infertility that involved at one point needing to take birth control pills, and the recent controversies about access for all women to contraception &amp;quot;got me riled up.&amp;quot; (She&amp;#x27;s now the mom of a 15-month-old named Felix. Congrats, Elizabeth!) Long says, &amp;quot;I&amp;#x27;m all about girl power.&amp;quot; Kramer Jenning reported Long expressed worry over losing the safety net all families need, including hers. &amp;quot;I have faith in president Obama. I feel there will be a safety net for me.&amp;quot; The wide-ranging discussion also addressed what&amp;#x27;s at stake if Obamacare is overturned (like staying on your parents&amp;#x27; insurance until you reach 26), the ongoing fight for pay equity and President Obama&amp;#x27;s education and jobs initiatives--all the issues you&amp;#x27;ve told us you care about. So, even if your countdowns are focused on days until your summer getaway instead of days until Election 2012 like the team with the whiteboard at Obama HQ, or even Romney HQ, Kramer Jenning&amp;#x27;s A.M. at the Obama Women&amp;#x27;s Issues roundtable definitely shows this election matters to you, no matter how &amp;quot;involved&amp;quot; or &amp;quot;politically aware&amp;quot; you consider yourself, simply because you&amp;#x27;re a woman. Which candidate is speaking most directly to your values? And what can each candidate say to get your attention when you&amp;#x27;re swamped planning that summer vacation and juggling work and everything else? More from Glamour&amp;#x27;s Washington HQ: *Snap Judgement: Would You Donate to a Campaign Via Text Message? Now You Can! *Paycheck Fairness Act: Should You Care That It Failed? Let Our D.C. Correspondent Answer That for You... *Women of the Year: Laura Bush, Barbara Bush, Jenna Bush Hager: The Generations Award Photo: Linda Kramer Jenning"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.glamour.com/inspired/blogs/the-conversation/2012/06/obama-womens-round-table-glamo>