Continuing where the post below left off: I asked the panel on media coverage of Hillary here at WAM! to comment on the age divide among women around the election–and how it’s being framed in the MSM–and it seems to have sparked some rather heated (YAY!) conversation. Here are snippets:

-An African American woman declares herself undecided, but poignantly voices her desire to hear more about Obama’s policy positions. “Inspiration, words, great. But what do you stand for?” she says.

-A young white woman speaks from the heart about her feelings about Obama, then asks, “As a feminist who is supporting Obama, what can I do to continue to combat sexism?”

-Betsy Reed (from the panel) notes, “There’s a sense among older women that younger women are abandoning the cause. And younger women are saying to older women, ‘You know, we have more complex political identities.’ The difference in voting may be portrayed as a catfight, but it’s bringing a lot to the fore. “

-Carol Hardy-Fanta brings up the troubling news of that new report about the high percentage of Obama supporters who say they will vote for McCain if Obama doesn’t get the nomination.

-My Woodhull colleague Elizabeth Curtis “outs” herself as a young woman who is supporting Hillary and questions the assumption that younger women are voting for Obama and older women for Hillary without backing these statements with any research. [Note from GWP: The stats from SuperTuesday and Junior SuperTuesday do show it…] She notes the lack of coalition on the side of the Dems. And she asks the question that I think is THE question: “What we can start to do–right now-to work together to ensure that the Democrat will make it to the White House?”

-Carol Hardy-Fanta notes that there have been more Democrats coming out to vote than Republicans–twice as many, it seems. If that continues, the Dem has a chance. She calls upon us to respond to friends who make those inane “I’m going to vote for McCain” comments by calling them on it.

YESSS. And my own thoughts on this are expressed in the Washington Post oped I coauthored the other week with Courtney. If I weren’t working like hell on my book proposal, I’d be tempted to write another one. But for the moment, instead, I’ll just have to be satisfied with calling defectors losers.