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Challenges for Clinton in Iowa
11/10/2007 20:29 - (SA)
Des Moines - For Hillary Rodham Clinton to win in the early presidential primary state of Iowa, she will have to get past the men challenging her for the Democratic presidential nomination and the state's tradition of turning a cold shoulder to female candidates.
Iowa is one of only two states - Mississippi is the other - that have never sent a woman to Congress or the governor's mansion. None have been tested in Iowa's presidential caucuses; any who campaigned here dropped out before the vote.
But Clinton is campaigning in large part on her gender; she noted during a swing through the Midwestern state this week that she could not run as anything else. She is making appeals to women and the voters who support them in subtle and direct ways.
Candidacy would break new ground
She says she is not running because she is a woman, but because she is the most qualified and experienced person for the job. But at every stop, she used her potential to break through the ultimate glass ceiling - that invisible barrier that often keeps women from top jobs - as part of her closing argument for voters to elect her.
"I was so touched the first time I shook the hand of a woman and she reached out and grabbed my hand and said to me, `I'm 95 years old. I was born before women could vote and I'm going to live long enough to see a woman in the White House!"' Clinton said in Dakota City.
As always, the story won enthusiastic applause from the assembled Iowans. She always followed up by saying she often sees parents pointing her out and telling their daughters she was proof they could be anything they want.
The pitch allows Clinton to tell voters her candidacy would break new ground in the face of opponents who are trying to portray her as part of Washington's past.
Nationally, a September poll by the non-partisan Pew Research Centre and the Pew Forum found 12% said they would be less likely to support a presidential candidate who is a woman, while 15% said they would be likelier.
- AP
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