JERUSALEM — First there was the "healing through laughter" seminar. Then "Orit the Carpenter," sort of a lesbian Martha Stewart, took the microphone and yelled, "We have seen our share of candidates over the years . . . all oozing testosterone and ego. But I have news for them: We, the woman, can do this!"
Later, transsexual pop star Dana International performed a bouncy disco song and announced, "I now formally invite you to the diva sisterhood."
Cue the candidate: Tzipi Livni entered the room to a rapturous reception, working the crowd and accepting hugs and air kisses from the nearly 1,000 supporters (90% female) attending a "campaign happening for women" in Jerusalem.
As techno music boomed and Livni danced awkwardly onstage, her husband, Naftali Shpitzer, unassumingly strolled among the crowd, bouncing to the music and carrying his wife's purse over his shoulder.
The atmosphere Friday afternoon was somewhere between political rally and Lilith Fair. Splashes of pink and fuchsia leaped from posters, balloons and T-shirts. Female artisans at dozens of tables offered handmade jewelry and baby clothes, plus tarot card readings and life coaching sessions.
As Livni, 50, heads toward Tuesday's national election for prime minister, she is reshaping the centrist Kadima party in her image, reaching out to female and far-left voters who have never supported the party founded by gruff former Gen. Ariel Sharon.
Livni, Israel's foreign minister, is working to retain Kadima's base while leapfrogging over the traditionally leftist Labor Party and attracting voters further left on the political spectrum.
With the latest polls showing her narrowly trailing hawkish Likud Party leader Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu, Livni is honing an image that combines the strength and decisiveness that Israelis seek in their leaders with a distinctly girl-power vibe -- along with a dose of Obama-styled hope-and-change rhetoric.
"She's growing into the role and adapting the party to her personality," said Edna Mazya, a playwright and prominent member of the leftist political establishment.
Mazya described herself as a longtime supporter of the far-left Meretz party. But this time she's voting for Livni, hoping to stave off a right-wing tilt under Netanyahu and rising hard-liner Avigdor Lieberman.
