Women's March Into Office Slows: Pelosi, Clinton Mark Clear Gains, But Numbers Seem to Be Dwindling

[DeepModem Mom]

WSJ: Women's March Into Office Slows
Pelosi, Clinton Mark Clear Gains, But Numbers Seem to Be Dwindling
By JUNE KRONHOLZ
August 15, 2007; Page A4

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton could be elected president next year, and Rep. Nancy Pelosi would likely remain Speaker of the House assuming the Democrats retain control of Congress. But otherwise, women's long, steady march into public office could stall in 2008, and possibly even retreat.

Women will surrender two of the nine governorships they now hold and face stiff competition over a third. All three women up for re-election in the Senate can expect withering opposition, including Louisiana's Mary Landrieu, whose seat is considered the Democrats' most vulnerable. The nonpartisan Cook Political Report lists 14 women among the 75 most vulnerable House members, including eight women who won office with less than 51% of the vote in 2006. And although women hold a quarter of all seats in state legislatures, "we've hit a plateau," says Debbie Walsh, director of the Center for American Women and Politics, a public-policy institute at New Jersey's Rutgers University.

The bottom line: While women will cast about 53% of the votes in November 2008, based on the past two presidential elections, their share of elective offices seems to have leveled off at about one in six at the federal level, and one in four in the state capitals.

The 2008 outlook for women isn't entirely gloomy. Niki Tsongas, widow of former Democratic Massachusetts Sen. Paul Tsongas, has the apparent lead in one of the first races of the political cycle, a Sept. 4 primary to fill a vacant House seat. Democrats are pinning their hopes on women to fill the open governor's seat in North Carolina and take the Senate seat in New Hampshire from Republican incumbent John Sununu.

But even more seats have no female challengers. And although it is fairly early for most candidates to announce their plans, there is also little hint that many women are even thinking of a run....

http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB118714374430398129.html?mod=blog