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Washington Post

Watch women run

By DAVID S. BRODER
Published October 16, 2006

WASHINGTON - Men have been making policy in Washington for as long as most of us can remember. But much of the political future now rests in the hands of women.

In the narrowest terms, with Democrats needing 15 seats to capture a majority of the House of Representatives, there are 17 highly competitive districts with female candidates.

More broadly, much of the mobilization effort in both parties - and their allied groups - is aimed at female voters, especially those who often vote in presidential years but skip the midterm elections.

This election could result in placing a woman, Nancy Pelosi, in line to be speaker of the House for the first time in history, emphasizing the role of women in setting the political course.

Dennis Simon, a Southern Methodist University political scientist, has issued his statistics describing filings for 2006.

He says women made up 16 percent of the candidates in this year's House primaries - an all-time high and the ninth consecutive election cycle in which that proportion has increased.

The total of 136 women nominated for House seats this year is only one less than the record set in 2004. Odds are good, Simon says, that the number of women elected will be higher this year than the 67 in the last Congress.

Of the 65 incumbent women seeking re-election - 42 Democrats and 23 Republicans - only six are regarded as vulnerable, all on the GOP side. Three of them - Reps. Marilyn Musgrave of Colorado, Deborah Pryce of Ohio and Heather Wilson of New Mexico - have female opponents, so the maximum loss of women's seats would be three.

That contrasts with the 53 races in which women challenge incumbents and the 18 open seats with female candidates. One of the most heavily contested open seats, the Minnesota 6th District, has opposing female nominees: the GOP's Michele Bachmann and Democrat Patty Wetterling.

Overall, more Democratic women than Republican are in competitive races. There are 39 Democratic challengers to incumbents, compared with 14 Republicans. In the open seats, 12 Democratic women and six Republican women are running. Simon credits the disparity largely to the work of groups such as Emily's List, which recruits and trains proabortion rights Democratic women to run, and raises money to support them.

Comparable efforts on the GOP side have been far less extensive or successful, Simon said. Martha Rainville in Vermont may be the GOP's best hope to capture a seat. She is running for a seat left open when independent Bernard Sanders, who caucuses with the Democrats, decided to seek a Senate seat.

Democrats have several other challengers, in addition to the races already mentioned. It is a formidable lineup of talent boosting the Democrats' chances of gaining control of the House.

A number of groups, both left and right, are engaged in campaigns to draw more women to the polls.

One involves Monique Schmittou, one of 20 women at a potluck supper in Canton, Mich. A single mother who has a teenage daughter and cares for an elderly mother, Schmittou recently was laid off from an auto-parts company for which she had worked 10 years.

Now facing the loss of her health insurance, she joined others in discussing what she calls "a crisis" for many in her community. Before leaving, they addressed about 250 cards to other women, urging them to vote.

It may be that women like these will give the men in power a needed kick in the pants - to get them moving on the real issues.

2006, Washington Post Writers Group

[Last modified October 16, 2006, 09:02:07]