Women want to Clean the House

I am exhilarated at the New York Times preception that women are the key for the Democrats in Congressional Campaigns nationwide.

"If the Democrats have their way, the 2006 Congressional elections will be the revenge of the mommy party.

Democratic women are running major campaigns in nearly half of the two dozen most competitive House races where their party hopes to pick up enough Republican seats to regain control of the House. Democratic strategists are betting that the voters' unrest and hunger for change — reflected consistently in public opinion polls — create the perfect conditions for their party's female candidates this year.

I do not know if I am completely at ease with the words "revenge of the mommy party." Democratic revenging mothers are running for Congress, just does not sit right with me. I think I would have preferred something more along the lines of "Dem women are planning on taking back the House."

Moreover, Democratic strategists hope to frame these midterm races as a classic change-versus-status-quo election — which, they say, makes women, running as outsiders against a "culture of corruption," the perfect messengers.

So of the 435-seat House of Representatives, there are 43 Democratic women messengers running. Illinois just held their primary and Tammy Duckworth is the winner, more or less. Ken Rubin wrote:

Duckworth refused to run as an anti-war candidate. Her views on Iraq were either more tempered, designed to appeal to the Republican majority of the district, or squishy, depending on your perspective. Cegelis, on the other hand, ran as an out-and-out peace candidate, winning the backing of Democracy for America (once run by Howard Dean and now run by his brother Jim) and other assorted liberal groups. And when the votes were counted, Duckworth, as expected, won. But she won by only three percentage points -- a stunningly close race, given her financial advantage, endorsements and compelling personal story. The moral out of the 6th CD primary: Celebrity is nice, but message counts as well. It's nice to run as an Iraq war vet and be charismatic, but having something to say might not be a bad idea, either.

These are some of the women running for Congress. They all have something to say.

Arizona: Susan Friedman, Gabrielle Giffords, Patty Weiss

California: Francine Busby, Jill Martinez, Karen Otter, Marcy Winograd

Colorado: Peggy Lamm, Angie Paccione

Connecticut: Diane Farrell

Florida: Kathy Castor, Carol McLean, Jan Schneider

Illinois: Tammy Duckworth

Indiana: Katherine Carr, Gretchen Clearwater

Iowa: Joyce Shulte

Kansas: Nancy Boyda

Maryland: Paula Hollinger, Janet Owens

Michigan: Sharon Renier Rhonda Ross, Nancy Skinner

Minnesota: Gail Dorfman, Ann Knapp, Amy Klobuchar, Sharon Marko Colleen Rowley, Julie Sabo, Patty Wetterling, Rebecca Yanisch

Missouri: Veronica Hambacker, Sara Jo Shettles

Montana: Monica Lindeen

Nevada: Jill Derby, Tessa Hafen

New Hampshire: Carol Shea-Porter

New Jersey: Linda Stender

New Mexico: Patricia Madrid

New York: Paloma Capanna, Kirsten Gillbrand, Christina Rossetti

Ohio: Mary Jo Kilroy, Jennifer Stewart, Stephanie Studebaker, Betty Sutton, Robin Weirauch

Oklahoma: Patricia Presley

Oregon: Carol Voisin

Pennsylvania: Georgie Berner, Lois Herr, Lois Murphy

Rhode Island: Jennifer Lawless

Texas: Mary Beth Harrell

Washington: Darcy Burner

I seem to have more than 43 women here, and I did not even include all from Minnesota. The names were found at Politics1. If there is some discrepancies just leave me a comment and I will fix them.