The law school student ripped as a “slut” by Rush Limbaugh during a debate over birth control will again step onto the national political stage this week.
Sandra Fluke will introduce President Obama at a campaign event in Denver on Wednesday, a further sign that the incumbent’s re-election team is putting a heavy emphasis on women’s issues.
Fluke, a Georgetown student, testified before Congress earlier this year in favor of health insurance granting coverage of contraception.
Her stance was cheered by women’s rights advocates and many on the left — but denounced by conservative outlets, including the influential radio host.
Limbaugh slurred the 31-year-old student as a “slut” and a “prostitute,” creating a frenzy that led some of his advertisers to abandon him.
While Limbaugh later apologized, his comments turned Fluke into the unlikely face of the birth control debate — and prompted Obama to call her expressing concern.
“He encouraged me and supported me and thanked me for speaking out about the concerns of American women,” Fluke said of the March phone call.
“And what was really personal for me was he said to tell my parents they should be proud,” Fluke said. “And that meant a lot because Rush Limbaugh had questioned whether or not my family would be proud of me. I appreciated that very much.”
The Obama campaign has hammered Mitt Romney on women’s issues, painting the Republican as an “out-of-touch” candidate who favors cuts to Planned Parenthood.
“This is not the 1950s” said one woman in a recent Obama campaign add. “Contraception is so important to women.”
Though Obama trails Romney in the polls among married women, he has a massive 60%-31% advantage among single women in a Quinnipiac University survey released last week.
SUSAN WALSH/AP
President Barack Obama
He also has the lead over Romney among women in several key swing states — including Colorado.
Obama will make stops in Denver and Grand Junction on Wednesday and Colorado Springs and Pueblo on Thursday. He is expected to discuss women’s issues, the economy and the recent movie theater shooting in a Denver suburb.
He captured Colorado by nearly 9 points in 2008, only the second time a Democrat won The Centennial State since 1972.
How Limbaugh, Thomas, Bean produced conservative warrior Andrew Breitbart
- _Kissy_
on Aug. 7, 2012 at 12:43 PM