My husband and I are very different in many ways.

He’s a city boy and I’m a farm girl. I’m Protestant and he’s Jewish. I’m addicted to Project Runway and he doesn’t get it!

Even with those differences, our “mixed” marriage is strong. But I wasn’t sure what was going to happen when it turned out that we had voted for different candidates in our state’s presidential primary.

I voted for Hillary, but he voted for Obama. To say I had Barack Shock would be an understatement.

You see, for as long as we’ve been together, for whatever differences we’ve had, we’ve always been on the same page politically. There has never been an electoral disagreement in our house — until now. (At least he didn’t vote outside the party — now that WOULD have been grounds for divorce!)

Apparently, we’re not the only ones working on this issue in 2008. And someone is trying to cash in on this phenomenon.
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“For her, politics wasn’t so much about being inspirational as it was being practical — about getting something specific done.”

“She can be tough, and even a little steely, an attitude that stems, at least in part from wanting to live up to the high expectations her father set for her. ”

“Politics and policy animate her — like her husband, [after attending Ivy League law schools] she turned away from a lucrative law career to work in public service.

Another profile about Hillary Clinton, you say?
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Last week, I was pondering the apparent recklessness of my early motherhood by allowing PunditGirl (then merely a PunditBaby) to toddle around with water, juice and milk in brightly colored sippy cups.

I didn’t know then what I know now about the possible chemicals that can leech out of the plastic after many uses and washings. But that doesn’t make me feel any better. Granted, there’s nothing I can do about that now, but how can I be more vigilant going forward?
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I may have exposed my now-eight-year-old-daughter to toxic chemicals when she was a baby that could cause her to develop breast cancer or diabetes or a whole host of other bad things as an adult.

Irresponsible mom, you say? I didn’t think so at the time.

I’m not exaggerating when I say that I got sick to my stomach when I read about the latest on baby bottles, water bottles and sippy cups.

A chemical called bisphenol A (BPA) is a synthetic sex hormone that is used to make many hard plastic products like our trusty sippy cups.
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Or, perhaps more appropriately, your chest!

It’s probably no secret that I tend wear my Democratic politics on my sleeve. But with emotions running high for both the Dems and the GOP in this year’s political campaign, it’s not difficult to find those hawking election memorabilia both for and against all the candidates.

But how to choose something that will best represent your feelings and still be relevant after the election? You know how hard it is to get those bumper stickers off the car!
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Trying to explain our electoral process to an eight-year-old is like trying to help your child make sense of why the boys who like you in the classroom pick on you during recess.

It’s all a bit inscrutable.

What’s even harder is trying to help a second-grader grasp that while the election coverage that mommy is addicted to has been going on since before she started this school year, that things won’t be over until she’s settled into a third-grade routine later this year.

“But WHY?” is my daughter’s continual response when I try to explain why we don’t have a new President yet.
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When it comes to political women, does it get any better than Gloria Steinem?

Whether you agree with her politics or not, I’m assuming that most of us would agree that her voice had a major impact on how women can choose to live their lives today. And at the age of 73, she’s still not shying away from feminist controversy.

Knowing that Steinem, and others like her, were out there in the world as I was coming of age was a beacon for me. I knew that I would have way more choices about my destiny — both professional and otherwise — because of what she, and others like her, fought for.
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I’m surprised to find myself saying this, but I felt bad for Hillary Clinton last week.

The New Hampshire Democratic debate had all the hallmarks of junior high — do we like Hillary Clinton more than Obama or Edwards? Hillary jested that her feelings were hurt at the suggestion that she wasn’t at the top of the likability scale. Barack Obama’s snarky inner sophomore surfaced when he blurted in a condescending and dismissive tone that Clinton was “likable enough.”

Oh wait, I know that tone. That sounds more like some offices I’ve worked in.

And then there was the “teary” moment.
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Gloria Steinem raised a really interesting question this week in the New York Times about gender (one I wish I would have thought of first!):

If Barack Obama was a woman with the same experience and history, would we even be talking about whether” she” was a qualified candidate?

Steinem thinks the answer is, unfortunately, clear.

Steinem asks:

“The woman in question became a lawyer after some years as a community organizer, married a corporate lawyer and is the mother of two little girls, ages 9 and 6. Herself the daughter of a white American mother and a black African father — in this race-conscious country, she is considered black — she served as a state legislator for eight years, and became an inspirational voice for national unity.

“Be honest: Do you think this is the biography of someone who could be elected to the United States Senate? After less than one term there, do you believe she could be a viable candidate to head the most powerful nation on earth?”

Her point is a good one. Odds are, if you break it down that way, many of us would say “no.”

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As we are now counting the days to the primaries and caucuses in January, I’m assuming that voters will become more focused on the candidates, both Democratic and Republican, and where they stand on the issues that are most important to them.

As you can probably guess from reading my columns, I tend to lean just a teensy little bit to the left in my politics!

I’ve paid a lot of attention to where the Democrats stand on issues that impact women, regardless of their political affiliation of those women — work/family balance, the Family and Medical Leave Act, Roe v. Wade, child care, and health care for mothers and children, just to a name a few.

So, in fairness, I thought I should take a quick tour of some of the candidates’ official websites to see what they’ve chosen to highlight in terms of issues that would resonate with women voters.

And I have to say, I was shocked.
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