Who were my role models in public life? Long before I knew I would run for office some day, I admired a woman from South Africa, Helen Suzman, whose lone voice spoke out against apartheid in the all white Parliament. She died a few days ago at the age of...

The headlines have been unrelentingly gloomy in 2008 except for November 4, the day of national euphoria when Barack Obama became President-elect.

Seven weeks after the election, and almost three weeks before the inauguration, conversations still brighten up when his name is mentioned. It seems everyone is going to the...

Caroline Kennedy has taken the first step in telling Governor David Paterson that she wants to be appointed to the Senate. She is not waiting to be asked, as some women tend to do.

The reaction has varied from enthusiastic to skeptical. The big question that is being raised is:...

I was intrigued to learn that Caroline Kennedy expressed an interest in being appointed to Senator Hillary Clinton's New York Senate seat. Precisely how strong that interest is, is hard to know, but I suspect that if she wants to be in the United States Senate, Governor David Paterson would...

President-elect Barack Obama continues to do the right thing. His newly announced national security team is first rate. Here is a man who said he likes to surround himself with people who have "strong personalities and strong opinions."

He did not want to slip into the habit of "group think"...

The proclamation which established a national day of Thanksgiving was issued during the administration of President Abraham Lincoln on October 3, 1863.

It was a perilous time for our country, torn apart by a devastating Civil War. It is tempting to draw comparisons between then and now. Our country has...

President-elect Barack Obama made the right decision when he offered Senator Hillary Clinton the post of Secretary of State and she made the right decision when she accepted.

Some are already wondering, can these two former rivals get along? Can she report to the President when she wanted to be...

Ever since Barack Obama won the primary the question has been asked, "What will Hillary do?"

The assumption has been that President-elect Barack Obama would offer her some significant position for several reasons:

• He respects her intelligence and grit.


• It is better to have her on...

In my last blog I boasted that Vermont was the number one state in the percentage of women in our state legislature. Yesterday there were new results from Colorado; two more women were elected. That gives Colorado the distinction of being the first state in the nation for women, at...

Women have made history in the 2008 election in the state of New Hampshire. It has the honor of being the first state in the nation to have a majority of women in the State Senate. Unlike the House with 400 members, the Senate only has 24 and 13 of...

The lights of Washington, DC looked different to me last night as I flew into the capital to give a talk on my book, Pearls, Politics and Power: How Women Can Win and Lead.

The election of Barack Obama has cast a new aura over the city. And this...

It's beginning to sink in -- Barack Obama is the President-elect. The electoral votes tell me the facts. Still, I am slowly absorbing the reality that this is a new day for our country.

During these last few days of the campaign, I had been afraid to let myself imagine...

Have I become so addicted to polls, pundits, and projections that I will actually miss them after the polls close on November 4?

What will we talk about?

There will always be the results to dissect, who won, who lost, where and why? And the down ticket races will move...

Thirteen days is a long time in a political campaign. Having gone through nine elections myself, I know how unpredictable the final days are. Anything can happen.

In this campaign season, I am experiencing wild mood swings. One moment, when I scan the polls I'm convinced that nothing can stop...

The French have a wonderful expression, "He is comfortable in his skin." (Il est bien dans son peau.)

In last night's final Presidential debate that was the stark difference between Senator John McCain and Senator Barack Obama.

John McCain squirmed as if he were wearing scratchy winter underwear. He is...

A friend stopped me yesterday to say that the McCain/Palin rallies reminded her of the brown shirted fascists in Hitler's time. I reluctantly agreed.

Hatred unleashed in any era, is ugly. McCain is no Hitler but he and Palin are giving their fervent supporters permission, if not downright encouragement, to...

Doggone it; Sarah Palin did pretty well in the first and only vice presidential debate.

She did not commit a gaffe, was clearly well rehearsed, and said a lot of the things she needed to say, portraying herself as the hockey mom she is, representing the Main Street folks in...

Governor Sarah Palin has been blown off the front pages by the financial crises, which has spread across six columns of almost every newspaper. Wall Street has overtaken Main Street. Her credentials slim to begin with, appear even more flimsy under the blinding light of a financial melt down.

Still,...

Yes, Governor Sarah Palin has added a dash of excitement to the Republican ticket, a party which has no history of reaching out to women. Let's remember what this party stands for: the appointment of Justices who are determined to overturn Roe v. Wade.

In past elections, it was...

We always knew that people paid more attention to what women politicians looked like than to what they said. Hairstyles, shoes, skirts, or pants, and now glasses or contacts—that's all the talk about Governor Sarah Palin. She's become an overnight rock star—unlike any female politician we have known.

The problem...