On Tuesday at the National Press Club around this time of day, our Kate O’Beirne moderated a discussion with top female officials on the major Republican presidential campaigns. Kate opened by reminding the audience about the importance of women voters by noting that, had only men voted in 2000, George Bush would have carried 43 states — every state west of the Mississippi including California. The panel discussed “women voters” rather than the “women’s vote” because the latter doesn’t exist. There is no monolithic women’s vote — George Bush lost women voters by 3 points in 2004 — but carried white women by 11 points. Married women typically vote for Republicans — and the gap between married and single voters is larger than the gap between men and women.

Kate reminded us that, properly understood, the “gender gap” is more a function of men abandoning the Democratic party, rather than women flocking to it. Finally, women voters don’t reliably vote for women candidates – just ask Geraldine Ferraro. In 1984, the pro-life Ronald Reagan won among women – 56 to 4.

Here’s the video of the event, which included Karen Hanretty for Senator Thompson, Jill Hazelbaker for Senator McCain, Katie Levinson for Mayor Giuliani, and Barbara Comstock for Governor Romney.