Heading for the Hillz

Hillary and Obama meeting for lunch today!  Oh to be a fly on that wall...

Hillary's 2016 PAC team has added some impressive members from the Obama team.  This is looking less and less like a "shadow" PAC and more and more like a precursor for a legitimate presidential run!

E.J. Dionne, Jr. in the Washington Post: Hillary Clinton and the quiet gender revolution. “Clinton's gender is certainly relevant to the desire of so many who want her nominated. She would, indeed, appeal to women of diverse political views who want to break the presidential glass ceiling. But support for Clinton has at least as much to do with hard-core calculations that she could win because of her wide experience, her likely strength among working-class voters and her sheer endurance in the face of tests that few other politicians have had to confront.”

Hillary on the trail. The paid speech trail, that is.

Hillary's answer to the "has been" charge: In anticipation of attacks on former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's age if she runs in 2016, Democrats are preparing a counterargument that "women of all ages will absolutely be inspired by" a Clinton candidacy. "I don't recommend that be the totality of her message or platform," Stephanie Cutter said, "but there's no way to hide that fact and it certainly shouldn't be discounted."

A fundraiser for the newly renamed Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation is set for August 23 in Bridgehampton. The event is being billed as a 'very special dinner with President Bill Clinton and Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton' on Aug. 23 in Bridgehampton. It's a cocktails event followed by dinner, 'culminating in an intimate conversation with the Clintons where they will take questions from guests.' It's one of the first events in which the two will speak together since Hillary Clinton left the State Department earlier this year, and falls during their vacation in the Hamptons. It also puts them before wide groups of donors."

On the lighter side, a sign she's willing to "cross the aisle"? Hillary takes on elephant poaching.

Boston Marathon - 100 days and 40 years

I stumbled on this video today via Upworthy and was struck by the timeliness.  The Boston marathon has been on my mind a lot this week, as we passed the 100th day since this year's bombings.

As fond as I am of the Boston marathon, I really loved seeing this clip and learning about the shocking, yet predictable, response that the Boston marathon race directors had in 1972 to the first woman running the race.  Tonight's TGIF toast goes out to Kathrine Switzer for breaking the gender barrier to this historic race!

Lipstick LobbyList 7.26.2013

Lena Dunham breaks it down in 140 characters or less why Anthony Weiner is not fit for public office: his abuse of power.  (left)

And on the more humorous side, the WSJ imagines Hillary and Huma emailing each other about this past week.  And yes - why isn't Huma the one running for office?!?!

The NYT has an excellent deep dive on the gender dynamics of choosing the next Federal Reserve Chairman...or perhaps Chairwoman...?  The two top contenders are Janet L. Yellen, the Fed’s vice chairwoman, and Larry Summers. From the article: "But the choice also is roiling Washington because it is reviving longstanding and sensitive questions about the insularity of the Obama White House and the dearth of women in its top economic policy positions. Even as three different women have served as secretary of state under various presidents and growing numbers have taken other high-ranking government jobs, there has been little diversity among Mr. Obama’s top economic advisers." 

Gabby Giffords takes to the pages of Vanity Fair to thank Michael Bloomberg for his continued fight for smart gun control policy.

Sam Power is one step closer to becoming ambassador to the United Nations, clearing the Senate Foreign Relations Committee this week.

Several Massachusetts women legislators are cleverly leveraging the opportunity of the minimum wage debate to discuss languishing pay equity legislation.  Thank you to Sen. Spilka and Sen. Chandler for introducing the measure.  (via State House News)

National Weiner Day

As heart breaking as this news is for the ever fabulous Huma Abedin, the long time aide to Hillary, I couldn't help but notice that the new developments with Anthony Weiner sexting post-resignation from Congress happened on National Hot Dog Day....

Lipstick LobbyList 7.23.2013

Massachusetts State Senate Prez Therese Murray features in the "Women Up" column of the Boston Business Journal.  This question was particularly awesome:

Did you ever experience discrimination in what was considered a male-dominated field?
"I still go to events or meetings, particularly out of state or in a place where people don’t know me, where they will turn to the male staffer next to me, shake their hand and say, 'Senator,' or 'President.' That continues to happen."

The New York Times has a profile of  Silda Wall Spitzer as the real life “Good Wife”:

"Much has changed for Ms. Wall Spitzer, a former corporate lawyer, since her husband resigned in 2008. She has grown more independent, relishing a return to her corporate career and working 60-hour weeks at a private equity firm where she helps guide investments in clean energy. She oversees her children’s charity, generationOn, which earlier this year honored Chelsea Clinton, and has pursued new business ventures, including an e-commerce Web site, New York States of Mind, that highlights products from businesses in the state."

With Anthony Weiner and Eliot Spitzer doing well in recent polls, WaPo’s She the People Blog asks: “Could a former stripper be elected president?”

Ann Friedman writes for Elle magazine a profile of freshman Arizona Congresswoman Kyrsten Sinema, the first openly bisexual member of Congress. At only 36 years old, Kyrsten is changing the face of Congress and blazing a new path for women in office.  From the article: "12 of the last 18 presidents kicked off their political careers before age 35. Sinema is part of the first generation of women to follow that timetable, and at 36 has already been in public office for almost a decade. Consider this: At her age, Nancy Pelosi was 11 years away from winning her first election, Hillary Clinton 17."

Read more: Representative Kyrsten Sinema on Gay Marriage - Kyrsten Sinema Interview - ELLE
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Visit us at ELLE.com

The Atlantic has a great overview of recent campaign ads that feature male politicians in the kitchen. It’s great to see some of my favorite Massachusetts women and organizations getting some air time on this topic (Barbara Lee Family Foundation, former Massachusetts state treasurer Shannon O’Brien, and the Center for Women in Politics and Policy at the University of Massachusetts Boston).

The special election primary date is set for the 5th Congressional seat recently vacated by now Senator Ed Markey: October 15th. The general election will be on December 10th. In related (& exciting!) news, Melrose state Senator Katherine Clark hosted her official campaign kick-off on Saturday. Katherine is facing off against two Democratic state Senate colleagues, William Brownsberger and Karen Spilka, Middlesex County Sheriff Peter Koutoujian and state Rep. Carl Sciortino.

Boards Snap Up Female CFOs  "Female chief financial officers may be relatively few in number, but they are trumping their male peers by a wide margin in at least one career achievement: winning outside board seats. Women account for just 12% of CFOs at the 500 large public companies tracked by executive-recruiting firm Korn/Ferry International. But more than half of those women serve as directors at another company.  That makes female CFOs about three times as likely to serve on an outside board as their far-more-numerous male counterparts. CFOs rarely serve on their own company’s board, in part because they are considered to be at the board’s beck and call as part of their regular job."
 
Guilty Pleasure: Emily Nussbaum in the New Yorker on Sex and the City

Born to Run

It's great to see some women with political ambition in the news this past week.

First up, Stephanie Schriock.  Politico has a great profile of EMILY's list head Stephanie Schriock, who is considering running for U.S. Senate in Montana to fill the seat vacated by Sen. Max Baucus.  I always love to see fellow Democratic women from the "flyover" states run for higher office. Stephanie is a perfect example. From the profile:

“I love Montana, it is my home and it owns my heart, and the honest to God truth is this has been something I’ve wanted to think about,” said Schriock, who isn’t married but has a longtime boyfriend and likes to spend her free time fishing, kayaking and hiking. “I am very proud of my home state and I do hope someday to work for the people of Montana.”

Sandra Fluke is keeping her name in the mix by co-authoring an Op-Ed in the LA Times Monday, "Women to L.A. City Hall: Remember us?".  Unbelievably, LA currently has no women elected to city government.  Sadly, this trend is very familiar as Boston currently only has one woman on the City Council out of 13 councilors.

Wendy Davis is wisely riding the wave of national attention (and the fundraising this brings) from her brave filibuster in Texas a few weeks ago with her own Op-Ed in the Washington Post.  She makes a reasoned and thoughtful case for access to good women's health services, and at the same time boasts some Texan pride:

"Texas really is the greatest state in the greatest nation. Texans — and women all over the country — deserve leaders that care, that listen and that work to protect their interests. The people’s filibuster demonstrated that Texans — and women everywhere — are ready and willing to fight back."

I adore Senator Kirsten Gillibrand and think she is doing absolutely amazing work in her relentless, yet smart approach to pushing her legislation for a military sexual assault process reform.  She has proven this week to have the skills to secure much needed bi-partisan support with Senators Paul and Cruz adding their names as co-sponsors.  Gillibrand is a woman to watch for the White House for sure!

And honorable mention to the women who considered a run for higher office, but chose not to run:

• Montana state insurance commissioner Monica Lindeen for the U.S. Senate seat and
• Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan for Illinois Governor.

I'm keeping my eyes on these ladies, as I hope to see more from them both in the future!

Progesterone Girl

Happy 60th birthday, Martha Coakley!

I will be the first to admit that when I saw the headline in the Globe a few weeks ago that Attorney General Martha Coakley is considering a run for Massachusetts governor next year, I was not immediately jumping with excitement.

And I don't think I was the only woman-who-loves-to-support-Democratic-women-candidates who felt this way. Maybe it's campaign fatigue from this ruthless series of special elections we find ourselves in in Massachusetts.  Maybe we're still a little tender from the Scott Brown victory in 2010.  Maybe it's because several strong candidates are already in the race.

Sigh. Or maybe it's because I'm too big of a girl and don't want to face another loss.

Then former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer announced he's running for NYC comptroller.  And with all of the coverage of male "comeback" stories (or as Joanna Weiss so aptly called them "the testosterone boys"), something struck and I thought: "Why the hell isn't she running?"

She had no scandal, just a poorly run and ill-timed campaign.  She's done an excellent job as AG with an impressive record on DOMA and human trafficking.  And she's sat out two US Senate races.  Most men would have declared by now for the next race.

So if Martha has the progesterone to go "ovaries out" and run for governor, I say go for it.  Let's see her put her best (stylish heeled) foot forward.  While she remained coy this weekend at the Democratic State Convention about her intentions to run, she showed some much needed spunk and brought a strong show of support.  Much like the Boston mayoral race, I'm both exhausted and excited to see how the 2014 Massachusetts gubernatorial field will shake out.  But I do believe that we can benefit competitive primaries and having a woman (or women!) in the field makes the discussion all the more rich. 

PS - cheers to EMILY's List for helping to ensure that the Massachusetts field has a strong woman contender in the race.  In addition to Martha, they have identified another strong candidate in Juliette Kayyem, a national security expert  and Boston Globe columnist, to run for governor if Martha chooses to opt out.

(image source: www.facebook.com/TobyGTweets)