"Military Moms" the next "Soccer Dads"?

A "political expert" in New Hampshire has decided that the next big constituency will be military moms. She says:

The military mom -- who has either a child or a husband who is serving -- is disenchanted with the war.

I'm skeptical that there are enough military moms to make a difference. I'm pleased to see that the WaPo article also notes that there is no indication that military moms actually constitute a monolithic block of voters, or even one that leans heavily towards one party.

The "political expert" doesn't have that caution. She says that military moms are "the swing vote" (emphasis in original). The expert also thinks that the "'military mom' would probably vote for a candidate who she thought would have credibility on foreign affairs, so that on the Democratic side is most likely to be Hillary Clinton."

The WaPo at least doesn't take this seriously (and it's nice to know that the WaPo writers read their own polls):

[A] Washington Post-ABC News poll in April found that more women in military families had already rejected Clinton outright (48 percent) than had women in nonmilitary households (34 percent).

There is no discussion of why military moms would be showing up now, but not for the 2006 mid-terms.

posted by Gabriel Malor at 12:32 PM

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