even 12%. this year it s almost dead even, and that s something we ve never seen before and is of great concern to the president, and i think that s why you see him having a forum today, a backyard forum with women voters in washington state and releasing a new report on women in the economy. they re really making an all-out push to try to get this done. jon: yeah. i remember a stat from 136, if only 1996, if only men had elected in that voted in that election. reporter: that s 100 % right. jon: so why are women turning more republican? reporter: i think there s a couple of factors at play here. one is as women and men become more equal in the workplace, become more equal in their roles in america, and we ve seen that in the last generation, those are things that are taken for granted that were fought for a generation ago, now that are
backyard forum, meeting with about three dozen people at this northeast seattle home, just this morning. they is in the backyard. the president spoke about the challenges women face specifically in this recession and took some questions about his small business loans and health care overhaul. next it was illegal under court order for just about a week, now the military s don t ask don t tell policy is back in place. a three-judge panel in the 9th circuit court of appeals in san francisco gave the obama administration the delay it wanted. this blocks temporarily last week s ruling that stopped the enforcement of don t askon t tell. the reason, the white house says it does want to repeal the policy in congress not in the courts. next, first time unemployment claims fell last week, hovering around 450,000, about 23,000 less than the previous week. but jobless claims have remained in this range pretty much since last november.