Will women vote for woman?

So Hillary Clinton is "in" for now. But can she win and, most importantly, can she win votes from women? Her announcement last week drew the expected scads of media coverage, but there's been very little media discussion of perhaps the most important question swirling around her campaign: Can the first female candidate with a serious shot at winning the White House garner the votes of female voters?

The answer is nothing less than pivotal. According to the Web site vote.com, " ... women are 52 percent of our population, 54 percent of the registered vote and usually between 55 percent and 56 percent of actual turnout."

Of course, feminists, liberals and progressive Democratic women will sign on with her candidacy. Any politician with her credentials could never expect, much less try, to win support for staunch Republicans or conservatives. But can she even draw middle-of-the-road, full-time homemakers (an important piece of the electoral puzzle) and swing or independent women into the camp?

Some of the most virulent opposition to Clinton I've heard personally comes from voters in this group. I've heard some of them say they detest her because she stayed with a philandering husband. Others say they see her as opportunistic, or don't trust her after Whitewater and an old allegation of insider trading. But there's a bigger issue many of these women don't want to address: Does she threaten their raison d'etre? She's a self-supporting career woman who lives a very separate life from that of her spouse (some would say, too separate) and who doesn't depend on her husband for financial support or personal identity.

The timing of Clinton's run, however, could translate into an unanticipated lucky break with women voters. Recent demographic changes have boosted the percentage of single American women to historic proportions, and that is reflected in their representation within the electorate as well. In 2000, 19 million single women voted. That rose to 27 million in 2004. And if current trends continue, 32 million single women could turn out in 2008. This group, financially less well-off than married women, are nonetheless less threatened by Clinton's independence. With lower incomes, they are less likely to be able to afford health care and therefore appreciate her advocacy for increased health care accessibility. This group, whether divorced, widowed or never married, also voted Democratic by a two-to-one margin in 2004 and again in 2006, even though President Bush won the married white women's vote in 2004 (and in 2000.)