Time has nominated the new face of birth control as their “Person of the Year 2012.”
Sandra Fluke — the recently graduated 31-year-old Georgetown law student who rose to prominence this year after she advocated for free-birth control before Congress and radio host Rush Limbaugh called her a “slut” — is now one of 40 nominations for Time Magazine’s annual honor.
Fluke and Limbaugh became part of the story line in the so-called Republican “war on women” and she went on to become a Barack Obama campaign surrogate.
The newly minted lawyer secured a Democratic National Convention speaking slot, and spent much of the campaign discussing issues that assisted in Obama’s significant margin of victory among single women voters.
She is joined on Time’s candidate list by 2008 Person of the Year President Obama, former presidential candidate Mitt Romney, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, 1992’s Man of the Year and former President Bill Clinton, Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu among others.
While Time editors will choose the Person of the Year, people can vote on the selections. Voting closes on Dec. 12 and the winner will be announced on Dec. 14.
Last year, Time’s Person of the Year was “the protester,” in 2010 they selected Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and in 2009 Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke received the honor.