UPDATE: Seelye's article is now live on the site with comments from me and Emily McKhann.
On the NYT website right now, Katharine Seelye, politics reporter at the New York Times is asking readers to respond to this question, because she is writing a column on the subject tomorrow. Please dive in. some sample comments:

I think men are more interested in the competitive nature of the election. It’s like a sport — who will win or lose, who has the best strategy, who is on offense, who is on defense. Men are interested more in the minutae of the game and tracking the ups and downs of the election contest. It’s the same reason men are interested in fantasy baseball and knowing specific stats about everything involved in sports. I think women could care less and are more focused on the big picture.