Fluke pushes early voting in Reno. Draws 10 people.

Sandra Fluke, the woman at the center of a media firestorm earlier this year after Rush Limbaugh called her a “slut,” spoke Saturday in front of about 10 people at the Sak ‘N Save in north Reno.

The speech was part of a daylong effort by Democrats to get Northern Nevadans to the polls on the first day of early voting.
“I’m trying to do everything I can for an election that I feel is very important. I have a unique opportunity for how I get to do that,” said Fluke, who is coming off recent campaign trips to Colorado, Iowa, New Hampshire and Florida as a surrogate for Democratic President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign.
Fluke emerged on the national spotlight in February when she was denied to speak before the U.S. House committee on Oversight and Government Reform on whether insurance plans should have a mandate to cover contraceptives. She eventually spoke to House Democrats.
Rush Limbaugh called her a “slut” and “prostitute” on his show based on her comments on contraception for women. He later apologized, saying it was an “attempt to be humorous.”
Fluke doesn’t take the jabs too seriously. When asked about her previous year and how people have treated her in the press, Fluke smiled and laughed.
“It’s been not quite the 2012 that I’ve expected,” she said.
Fluke has embraced the spotlight, though. She spoke at the Democratic National Convention in North Carolina and has enjoyed talks with people on the campaign trail — especially those concerning women’s issues.
“A lot of women come to me and tell me stories individually about their lives about what access to healthcare has meant to them; what the Affordable Care Act is going to mean to them,” she said. “A lot of young people tell me how important it was to stay on their parents plan until they were 26. Folks tell me what a difference it made to be able to rely on Planned Parenthood when they needed it and what it would mean if Mr. Romney gets his way to defund Planned Parenthood.”
Fluke also spoke in Carson City on Saturday.
“President Obama and his surrogates on the campaign are running a campaign of distraction because they can’t run on their own record,” Nevada Romney campaign spokesman Mason Harrison said. He called their comments regarding women “ridiculous.”
“Women have a clear choice in November after four years that have delivered little progress for millions of struggling Americans,” Romney press secretary Andrea Saul said in a statement. “President Obama’s failed economic policies have left women with fewer jobs, higher poverty, and diminishing opportunities for the next generation. And even inside the Obama White House, women have been left behind. Mitt Romney has a clear record of empowering women – and, as president, will work to build a stronger economy with millions of new jobs to help deliver a real recovery for all Americans.”
Leo Horishny, among the people who came to see Fluke in Reno, said he wanted to see the person who members of the media had used “intimidating rhetoric against as a political tactic.”
“It’s a scary trend today,” Horishny said.