2012 could well prove to be another “Year Of The Woman” in both houses of Congress, similar to 1992, when a dramatic increase in women in government occurred.
Presently, there are 76 women in the House of Representatives, 52 Democrats and 24 Republicans. The US Senate has 17 women as members, with 12 Democrats and 5 Republicans. So the Democrats have two thirds of all women in Congress, with 64 as compared to the Republicans with 29.
With the Republican attack on contraception, and the Rush Limbaugh fatal mistake to attack a woman personally for her testimony about contraception before a Congressional committee, and with no criticism by GOP Presidential candidates, and very little criticism by any Republicans in Congress, including the women members, it is certain that there will be many new, primarily Democratic, women elected in 2012 to both houses of Congress.
The Democrats have about 38 women running for House seats, while the GOP only have 7, while in the Senate, there are 6 women running as Democrats as compared to 4 for the Republicans. Many of those running for the Senate, particularly for the Democrats, come from states that have never had women elected to that distinguished body.
Notice that for women running for Congress, 44 are Democrats and only 11 are Republicans, 80 percent of the total, as compared to 71 percent for those presently in Congress.
More than ever, it seems highly likely that women will play a major role in the elections, and that will benefit the Democrats and Barack Obama.
And the odds of future women candidates for President from the Democratic Party grows dramatically, with the potential for more than 20 women Democrats in the US Senate in 2013!