Wendy Davis' Secret Weapon: GOP's Misogyny

Wendy Davis officially announced her candidacy for governor of Texas yesterday, and Judith Warner thinks she's exactly what Democrats need—and not just because of her filibuster-generated fame. "Blonde, strikingly pretty, outspoken, and female, Davis is, to put it bluntly, invaluable as bait," Warner writes at Time. "In her short tenure on the national scene, she has elicited an almost Pavlovian response from anti-woman blowhards." Erick Erickson, for example, once called her "Abortion Barbie."

"As a misogyny magnet," Warner thinks Davis will be "the gift that keeps on giving." Her hair, clothes, and pink sneakers, coupled with her abortion stance and unmarried status, "sexualize her to a degree that's unusual for female politician" and "open her up to a very specific, very ugly form of woman-hate." And that's great for Democrats, who rode "a consistent pattern of gender-based disrespect" to victory last year. Barack Obama won among women by 12 points. "Message: we Barbies are no dummies." Click for the full column. (More Wendy Davis stories.)