"North Shore Dem" poses an interesting one:
Now that Massachusetts has successfully elected a woman Senator, does
that lessen the urgency to elect more women to prominent positions or
increase the likelihood that more women will be elected? Who are the
women poised to run and win Congressional or statewide office?
On the first question, I think in a way it does both.
I do think, for instance, that you would be seeing more of an effort to recruit a woman to run in the special Senate election, had it been a male Democrat who just beat Scott Brown. And my guess is that the effect would continue, to some extent, to upcoming races for governor and so on.
But at the same time, having Elizabeth Warren in the US Senate probably means an increasing number of women moving up the political pipeline (as Martha Coakley, for instance, has helped women up the ladder behind her) -- and an increasing willingness of women in the state to run for office, and of voters to vote for them.
So, the Warren election could very well mean more women elected, but less need to work hard to make that happen.
Women poised to run state-wide of for Congress? Off the top of my head, Ayanna Pressley, Lisa Wong, Katherine Clark, Sonia Chang-Diaz, Kim Driscoll, Eileen Donoghue, Jennifer Flanagan, Karen Spilka, Jen Benson, Carolyn Dykema, Andrea Cabral, Carmen Ortiz, Linda Forry, Linda Balzotti, Judy Kennedy... and that's just the Democrats. GOP has a host of 'em, including Jane Swift, Kerry Healey, Mary Connaughton, Karyn Polito, Shauna O'Connell, Keiko Orrall, Jen Caissie, Virginia Buckingham.
Let me know who I've left off those quick lists!
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