I have been reading the CNN 'Specials' (The Primaries), and the only Female candidate is Carol Moseley Braun, and she is apparently the 'only African-American woman to have served in the Senate'.

Now please, it is 2004, and there is only one Woman (that seriously would have any chance) that candidate's for the Presidential role in the United States.

It would have been very interesting to see Hillary Clinton, which is both well known, and well liked. But alas, she took a step down.

What are your opinions about this ? Is it unfair?




CNN Link: http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2004/special/p...ndex.braun.html

Unfair? No. Why should it matter? Besides, like you pointed out, Hillary willingly stepped down (thank god).

I like Carol Mosley Braun especially since she is from my state and has served my state well. Although I have given my support to Dean because I believe he is a much better candidate at this time. Hopefully Dean will get her into his cabinet in some way, that would be a good decision to do.

Cadman, how does she seem to be? (personality and such)

There was a thread going on not too long ago:

American Female President that had some interesting input.

In regards to Hillary and her personality. Her moving to New York State because she felt she would be electable there (but not in her hometown of Illinois or Arkansas), in my opinion, was offensive. As a native New Yorker I considered moving back just to vote against her. How she was elected was beyond me, I don't know of one New Yorker (city and state) that voted for her. My feeling is either people like her or don't. I haven't read the thread in a while but remember someone commenting that they didn't trust her. I would say I agree with that. If she were to ever run for President it would take A LOT (most likely impossible) to ever get me to trust her enough to vote for her. I have only met a few people that were in the middle or indifferent. But hey she did get elected as a Senator of New York, so she must of done (or said) something right..??

Now if a woman candidate emerges that I felt best represented me I would, without a doubt, vote for her. I would not vote for someone just because they were a woman. As far as I can see there hasn't been many (any?) viable female candidate willing to take the step.

edited to fix my typo...

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Where back.



dreampiper, i got the illusion that Hillary was very well-liked. Is it just in the media?

How come she took a step back. Apparently i had the disillusion of her being close to the throne, so to speak.

Well Rootis and Dreampiper I do wish Hillary ran in Illinois she would have had much support as she has in NY.

To answer your question you posed to me Rootis, Carol Mosley Braun seems to be a very personable person open to listening to all views as best I can see since I have never met her. But for the stuff she did as a legislature in the Illinois legislature as well as in the US Senate she was a good fighter when she saw something wrong that needed to be right. As well as a very engaging person.

The reason why I see that not many female candidates in the presidential election are it still seems like a boys club like Mosley Braun has said unfortunately. I do think that in the very near future that will change when the females start entering the candidacies. Since this is the first woman that actually is known I believe its the first step to opening the door. Just a side note Mosley Braun was the first black woman in the US Senate as well as the first black person in the US Senate so she seems to be on the right track.

oops i noticed a typo in my statement:



should have read:
As a native New Yorker I considered moving back just to vote against her.

Anyway,

In my opinion, and I could be off base, I think she is either loved or hated. Pretty black and white. She stirs up a lot emotion and some of it can be more impressionistic than factual.

Do you mean the step back as that she isn't running for President in 2004? If that is what you meant, probably a calculated risk. My impression was that she didn't think she could win against GWB and if he wins 2004 then she would have a clear run for 2008. Of course, should a Democratic candidate win in 2004 she would have ruined her chances in 2008. I don't know, though, really only she could answer that.

Yes I suppose it could be the media. I think in Europe she is well liked. I don't know if it is on her own merits or because Bill was well liked in Europe. Anyway, I am sure there are many Hillary supporters on this site, they just haven't weighed in yet.

edited for clarity. will I ever get it right the first time??

The reason why I dont think Hillary is running in 04 is like she has said she wanted to serve out her term as a Senator, because even when Bill was on talk shows he was even saying he was trying to push her into the elections for 04.

I like it that Carol Mosley Braun is afro-american.
Hopefully perhaps she get some votes.

Unfortunately we do not seem to have the stamina for this discussion at present.
Perhaps it could continue when we are all in the mood?

I think it also has a lot to do with the impression that some of these potential female candidates feel that they don't have much of a chance. Which, ironically, is one of the most supportive arguements as to why they shouldn't be running anyways.

Be careful what you wish for - a female president may not say anything about attitudes to women, nor may she do anything significant to advance women's rights.

Mrs Thatcher was widely loathed in the UK the whole time she was in power - she never once had more than around 40% support in the country, levels to which Tony Blair is only just now falling after seven years in power.

I appreciate that she was regarded more warmly in the USA, which is as mystifying to many Brits as is the Clinton's high regard in Europe, I guess.

I recently finished a success novel, "Acres of Diamonds" written by Russell H. Conwell in 1915 and he had visions of a woman becoming president and hoped he lived long enough to see his vision become a reality. He died in 1925.

Well, it is now 2004 and yet the closest we ever came to a woman in the White House (other than the First Lady) was Walter Mondale's choice for his Vice-President, Geraldine and they won one state in the entire election. Bad year for Democrats! Republican Senator Dole's wife, Elizabeth ran in Election 2000, but had to drop out for lack of funds and her opponents, Bush and John McCain, were leading the race for a short time until it narrowed down to Bush.

IMO, I think we will cross the bridge of having a black president before we elect a female president. Now if Condi Rice would run in 2008, we could cross two bridges simultaneously!

In all seriousness, I believe the absence of females running for Election 2004 is that a sitting president is usually difficult to beat. Hillary is too smart to run only to lose. But, just wait until Election 2008...no matter who runs, I am willing to bet my money and take the winnings to the bank that Hillary will run for president.

Just not enough of them in politics. Having a few women in offices here and there doesn't really do much for their chances. Female politicians are rarely heard about outside their respective zone of influence.
How many of you hear regularly about Janet Napalitano?
Very few of you I'll bet.
With the exception of Christie Todd Whitman Dianne Feinstein and ole Hillary
you hear about none.
They never build a following, no support base. No name recognition. Except when they do. I'll use the three I mentioned they generally have a reputation that is very polarized (Despized by the opposite side) which is detrimental to their ever being seriously considered as that jeapordizes their chances of getting broad enough support to be elected for president.
I know many think Hillary could win in 2008 but I don't think she can.
I think she'll always be under Bill's shadow. She also seems to, in my opinion, just lack that spark. She comes off as shrill when I see here. She doesn't seem to me to have the charisma that makes one want to follow her.

I think it is bound to happen eventually, and I think it will probably be a Republican. I beleive this to be true because Republicans are not likely to vote for someone just because they are a woman, giving no added traction to a female Democrat. Their counterparts, on the other hand, are more likely to vote for a Republican woman just because she is a woman.

On the other hand, many liberals seem to turn on a conservative minority member even more than a white male conservative. I think, to them, it is some kind of an insult.

Let me clarify one thing, though: I am not speaking here of any specific liberal or conservative, as I don't go in for tribalistic politics.

- Rick

Might just be me, but I think we're seeing more women being put up for our nation's top two spots as of late. In 2000, the Greens and Reform party had women Vice Presidential candidates(Winona LaDuke and Ezola Foster respectively) and the Republicans had Liddy Dole(the other Dole who should have run instead of Bob) I think we'll see more of this in the next three or four elections-unless Hillary runs, I think we'll see a woman president before 2030.