WASHINGTON -- The Obama campaign is launching its 2012 "Women for Obama" initiative, an effort to mobilize this crucial voting bloc for the president's reelection effort.
In an email to supporters on Monday night, First Lady Michelle Obama, an honorary chair of the initiative, announced the launch of Women for Obama and urged female voters to sign up.
"Today, we are officially launching Women for Obama -- and I am incredibly honored to be serving as its chair," read the email by the first lady. "This is a special group dedicated to growing this campaign from the ground up. Because we know better than anyone that movements for real and lasting change have got to start at the grassroots -- and they're sustained by the relationships we develop with one another. Together, that's what we're going to do -- build relationships with supporters, new and old, and grow this campaign -- one woman at a time."
Michelle Obama also cited health care reform, raising standards in public schools, building out job-training programs at community colleges and the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act as evidence of the president's fight for women's rights.
"But we have so much more to do. And, as women and supporters of this campaign, we need to keep showing up -- and we need to keep fighting the good fight," she added.
Women for Obama is an arm of the campaign's "Operation Vote," an aggressive effort to engage and mobilize voting constituencies that helped President Obama win in 2008, such as college students, women and African Americans.
The National Women's Vote Director is Heather Colburn, a Wisconsin native who was active in the state's Senate recall elections earlier this year. She has also worked for EMILY's List, Planned Parenthood and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.
"Women have always been the heart of the Obama campaign and will play a crucial role in ensuring the President has four more years to protect and continue the progress we've made," Colburn said in a statement to The Huffington Post. "I'm honored to be on board, and look forward to working alongside the thousands of women already dedicating themselves and their time to help deliver the women's vote next November."
Throughout the week, there will be house parties and phone banks around the country, an attempt to reengage women who voted for Obama in 2008 and pull in new voters.
Women for Obama is already doing events in Colorado, New Mexico, Michigan, Florida, California, North Carolina and New Hampshire, among other states.
Jennifer Lawless, director of the Women and Politics Institute at American University, said Obama needs a strong turnout from women in order to win in 2012.
"He needs the women's vote. There's no question," Lawless told HuffPost in August. "What's up for grabs right now is the extent to which women are energized and ready to mobilize for him. In every presidential election since 1980, there's been a gender gap with women more likely to support the Democratic candidate than men. Without the women's vote -- because women comprise the majority of the electorate -- it's virtually impossible for a candidate to win the election."
In 2008, an analysis by the Rutgers Center for American Women and Politics found that women were a "significant factor" in Obama's victory. He won 56 percent of women's votes, whereas his opponent, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), won just 43 percent. Men split their vote about evenly between the two candidates.
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