The XX Factor: Slate women blog about politics, etc...

The George Will Plan

Melinda, George Will has a plan for how to bring Hillary voters back into the Obama fold - scare ‘em! On Hardball Monday night, George Will said he suspects that "three quarters of the country at this point does not know that John McCain is pro-life" and speculated that "once the Democrats make that known, as surely they will, [women] will come scampering back to the Democratic Party in droves."

Setting aside the light condescension of the word "scampering" (it's what furry little animals do) I wonder if Will's right - if the Democrats might actually benefit from a social issues flare-up. If NOW and NARAL start tearing away at McCain over abortion, aggrieved Hillary-supporting feminists will give up their flirtation with the Maverick.  On the other hand, ending the abortion détente could galvanize the Evangelical Republicans that have been sitting on the backbench.