Women Urged to Run for U.S. Presidency

February 19, 2001 6:42 AM

Women Urged to Run for U.S. Presidency -- A group called American Women Presidents is urging Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and more than 100 other women governors, lawmakers and business leaders to consider a run for the White House in 2004. Weirdly enough, this is the same group who offered Monica Lewinsky a job as its corporate VP last year.
posted by shauna (20 comments total)

Well I'm all for women in the presidency..sane ones that is ;) I'm afraid Hillary doesn't fit that category in my mind.
posted by t0rn at 6:52 AM on February 19, 2001

I'm going to start Republicans For Hillary As Democrats' Presidential Candidate 2004 -- right now!
posted by dagny at 6:54 AM on February 19, 2001

What a bad year to advocate. Assuming that GWB has the Republican nomination wrapped up, the Democratic nomination is (despite pundit bellyaching) is Al Gore's for the taking; any opponent to him, especially Hillary Clinton, would be lucky to win even one primary or caucus. The only scenario in which Al Gore doesn't take the nomination will be one in which Bush looks unbeatable, due to the economy, personal popularity, etc. Any woman put up then would be a sacrificial lamb, and her lop-sided defeat would set back the cause of women in politics substantially.

Dick Cheney will be too old and in too fragile health in 2008 to run for President, so the Republican nomination in 2008, and the Democratic nomination in 2008 (assuming Gore isn't elected in 2004) will be the first wide-open nominations.


posted by MattD at 6:57 AM on February 19, 2001

Well uh..there's still Nader!
posted by t0rn at 6:59 AM on February 19, 2001

MattD, I disagree completely. I think Gore is finished in electoral politics. Did Mondale run again? Did Quayle (not successfully)?
posted by rodii at 7:05 AM on February 19, 2001

Four years is a lifetime in politics.
posted by holgate at 7:11 AM on February 19, 2001

I agree with rodii - Gore's squandered his shot. Right after the elections, with Bill Renquist and the Supreme's rendition of "Stop! In the Name of George!" still fresh in our minds, lots of people were saying that Al was a shoe-in "next time 'round," to compensate him for being "robbed" by Junior's tort-bearing thugs... Three months later, it's more common to hear people asking how stupid Gore and Co. had to be to get themselves into that position in the first place. A man who couldn't win given the lead-in provided by Clinton is a man who doesn't deserve to be President.
posted by m.polo at 7:23 AM on February 19, 2001

Back on the topic at hand, and agreeing that if Bush somehow two terms Cheney will not be up for 2008, I would not only like to see a woman Pres candidate come from the Repub ranks, but a VP as well. My pick: Whitman/Rice, 2008. I'd be all over that like cheap perfume on a hooker.
posted by Dreama at 8:36 AM on February 19, 2001

Reports that this group wanted to hire Monica is a phalluscy.
posted by darren at 8:46 AM on February 19, 2001

Just think, if Hillary were to become president, her and Bill would have enough room to store all their stolen furniture and other assorted "hot" goodies.

Go Hillary!
posted by saturn5 at 9:52 AM on February 19, 2001

I don't think that Hillary is the most qualified woman around to run for President. She has never been in a leadership position (officially) and currently has about two months experience in elected office. She's even less qualified than George W Bush. She would have to do something spectacular in the next 3 years in the Senate to be at all worthy of consideration, although I have no doubt she will be considered either way. But there are plenty of other female lawyers with powerful husbands running around, like Denise Rich...
posted by donkeymon at 10:05 AM on February 19, 2001

First of all, the idea that somehow the election is already wrapped up, when it's nearly four years away, is absurd. And whether it is or not is no excuse not to encourage women to seek the nomination. The more women that seek the nomination, the greater the chance a woman will be elected to the highest office. I can't believe that in the sixteen years since Mondale chose Ferraro, no other woman has made it onto a major party ticket.

As for qualified women, if you don't think Ms. Clinton has the experience, what about the senators from California, Dianne Feinstein or Barbara Boxer? There are qualified women out there, and I'm in favor of any group that's trying to encourage more women to run, Democrat or Republican.
posted by megnut at 11:42 AM on February 19, 2001

There are qualified women out there ...

Elizabeth Dole is one who absolutely comes to mind ...
posted by shauna at 11:46 AM on February 19, 2001

I see nothing wrong with a woman running for president. I do fear that if one were elected, however, that once she made an unfavorible decision, her gender would automatically become a factor for supporters and detractors alike. I don't agree with that line of reasoning, but that's America for you.
posted by xtrmntr at 11:51 AM on February 19, 2001

True, but people will use anything at any time for justification, in varying degrees depending on the political climate. That's politics for you-- in some ways though it's liberating, because the current tone means that anyone, anywhere can be torn down for just about anything.
posted by cell divide at 12:57 PM on February 19, 2001

Does anyone know what Elizabeth Dole is up to these days? She went from being a presidential candidate to falling off the map. I can't even recall hearing her name mentioned as a potential cabinet member.
posted by Aaaugh! at 1:31 PM on February 19, 2001

I agree that Gore is damaged goods -- I disagree that there is any Democrat who, in the Democratic primaries and caucuses, actually could beat him in 2004.

Mondale is a great example of why this is so. Mondale was regarded well before the election as a clear loser, a person with absolutely no traction or popularity among the voters, and every poll showed that Gary Hart (among others) would do much, much better against Ronald Reagan ... Mondale was an aging, irrelevant liberal and a representative of the Carter / Mondale loser legacy. Yet he easily dismantled Hart in the primaries ...

Other cases in point: Nixon in '68, Carter in '80 (a clear loser although an incumbent; but still easily beat Kennedy in the primaries), Stevenson in '56.

Humphrey in '72 is a counterargument, but the incredible tumult of politics from 1968 to 1972, as well as the radical transformation in the electorate (18 year old voters, dramatic change from party-boss to primary/caucus as the basis of delegate selection) really makes that an exceptional case.
posted by MattD at 4:08 PM on February 19, 2001

Everything I've heard says that there is no love lost between Liddy Dole and GW Bush, and that even if he had offered her a cabinet post she wouldn't have taken it. She was reportedly very bitter at GW's seeming coronation by GOP governors early on in the primary/caucus season, often before she'd even had a chance to meet with them. I highly doubt that we'll see her back on the national political scene.

Now, if we could only make her husband stop talking about his genitalia. . .
posted by Dreama at 7:20 PM on February 19, 2001

Some folks have suggested that Elizabeth Dole might run for Senate from North Carolina should Jesse Helms not run in 2002. But I don't think that will happen. I think Gore's chances depend on Bush stumbling and no other Democrats creating momentum.
posted by thescoop at 7:30 AM on February 20, 2001

Well, sliding toward the more general topic, Gore and H. Clinton are the frontrunners ... in their respective wings of the Dem party. Hillary has always been more of a classical liberal than Bill, and Gore is firmly within the New Dem/Dem Leadership Council faction that has taken over the party. There's a rift in that DLC faction right now based less on ideology and more on personal loyalty to Gore or to Clinton, but that will probably heal by a couple of years from now.

(Same thing goes for the GOP: Liddy is from the same moderate (aka liberal aka Rockefeller) Republican wing as Bob, and while Poppy Bush was once one of those, his son definitely isn't. The Ashcroft-Reed-Olasky conservative-think-tankers consider moderate Republicans untrustworthy at best.)

Daschle and Gephardt both feel the odds are in their favor (and historically, they are) to retake both houses in '02, and both of them like those jobs, so neither is likely to run for Prez.

Dems considered comers to watch include John Edwards, Andrew Cuomo (running for dad's NY guv job!), and Jesse Jackson Jr. Just maybe not for '04. I'd also like to see Gary Locke (WA guv) run, but as an Asian-American he's not likely to, I suspect.
posted by dhartung at 9:09 AM on February 20, 2001