Sen. Patty Murray, mom in tennis shoes in ’92, stands her ground
Happy to say she's my Senator. 
WASHINGTON — There’s a disturbance in the force of the tradition-bound Senate and her name is Patty Murray
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The Washington state Democrat, once famously dubbed “just a mom in tennis shoes,” is the reason behind an uncomfortable power standoff between two men who intend to lead the Democrats after Minority Leader Harry Reid retires. Murray, her quiet style and her clout amassed over 22 years in the Senate, poses a challenge to the way things work in Washington. She’s poised to be the first woman in the Senate’s top-tier leadership. And she’s outgrown her image as the ultimate underdog, if not the mom in storied footwear.
“It’s who I am,” Murray, 64, says, patting a ceramic Nike sneaker decorating an end table in her Capitol Hill office.
In fact, Murray, a grandmother aiming for a fifth Senate term next year, has amassed enough power in the male-dominated Senate to be the Democrat to whom Reid turned for tasks nobody else wanted, as well as the chamber’s prickliest policy fights.
Just last week, Murray was the chief Democratic negotiator on a bill to crack down on human trafficking that had been stalled for weeks over abortion. It ultimately passed, paving the way for the confirmation of Attorney General Loretta Lynch. Murray twice chaired her party’s campaign committee, the widely unloved job of raising and strategically spending campaign cash to keep and add Democratic-held seats. As the senior Democrat on the Senate Health and Education committee, she helped muscle to the full Senate a rewrite of the Bush-era No Child Left Behind Act, which could face a vote this summer.
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http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20150427/NEWS03/150429150/Sen.-Patty-Murray-mom-in-tennis-shoes-in-'92-stands-her-ground
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