For Now Sans Clinton, Democratic Women Rally

June 17, 2008 — -- The news has had ten days to sink in: There will not be a female President starting in 2009.

The woman who came so close to being the Democratic nominee has not surfaced at her Capitol Hill office (or anywhere else) since leaving the race, and there are reports that some women are so frustrated with Democrats for selecting Barack Obama over Hillary Clinton they could flee the party to support McCain.

But for the other ten Democratic women in the Senate, today it was time to "put our lipstick on, square our shoulders and suit up for change."

Those defiant words came from Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., the self-appointed dean of the women's caucus in the Senate and a Clinton supporter during the Democratic primary battle.

"During the primary we had different favorite candidates, said Mikulski, who, at less than 5 feet tall, stood on a riser to see over the podium to an assemblage of Capitol Hill staffers and advocates from women's groups.

"But today, but now we have come together to offer America a checklist for change."

Women the world over, she said, rely on checklists, and senators are no different.

"Like women everywhere the way we get something done is to have a checklist, a must-do list, and no matter what at the end of the day we get the job done."

She said that as women in the Senate, she and her colleagues were going to concentrate not only on "macro issues" but on "macaroni and cheese issues."

From seeking "equal pay for equal work" with legislation to "protecting the families check book," by standing up to the oil, pharmaceutical and cell phone industries, 10 of the 11 Democratic female senators took to a podium erected at the former home (now a museum) of suffragette Alice Paul, who wrote the Equal Rights Amendment, which gave women the right to vote only during the last century and was so often cited during the primary season.

The checklist analogy carried through the speeches.

Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark, as a working mother of twin boys, said she has her own checklist.

"Women make lists," she said. "My list this week is consumed of what most other working mothers are doing. Whether it's a health care forum or summer camp or a carpool for soccer tryouts or donuts for the end-of-school party, there's a multitude of things on all our lists."

Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn, has small kids too and on her agenda, she said, in addition to standing up to oil companies and pharmaceutical companies, is her checklist at home to buy milk and eggs — and make sure her daughter buys a tankini and not a bikini for the pool this summer.

"Every woman in this country keeps a checklist like this," she said.

The checklist is not a new idea. In 2006, at a similar event, just before Democrats took control of the Senate, their female senators unveiled a similar slate of ideas.

The one female senator not at today's event: Clinton herself.

"The issues highlighted at today's event are those that Senator Clinton has worked on for decades, and she will continue to be a champion for them," said Philippe Reines, her spokesman.

While Reines said "Senator Clinton never stopped working" after the primary, it has become a mystery which undisclosed location she is working from or when exactly she'll bring her schedule back to her Capitol Hill office. Clinton has not missed votes on any measures on which she could have changed the outcome.

"We've put 50 women in space and we're gonna put 50 women in the U.S. Senate," Mikulski exclaimed, to hoots and hollers and applause from the crowd, mostly women who work on Capitol Hill and as staffers at advocacy groups in Washington.

It could be a long time before that happens and the Democratic women, because they are Democrats, would take a few steps in the wrong direction to get there. There are two women seeking Senate seats as Democrats next year — former governor Jeanne Shaheen in New Hampshire and state Senator Kay Hagan in North Carolina.

Hagan would have to unseat one of the five Republican women to win in North Carolina and another Republican, Sen. Susan Collins, faces a tough reelection battle in Maine. Republicans have not fielded any new female candidates for the Senate this year.