scandal after another whether you're the mayor of detroit going to jail, whether you're the governor of illinois, you know, it just goes on and on and on. they just obliterate the label. but if you're a republican, it leads with republicans. republican larry craig today. and you see that coverage. it is stunning, the double standard. this is something republicans have to live with. but republicans are treated this way because they allow the media to treat them this way. this is why the republican party has to stand up, which is why i applaud the chairman of the party for having done that. it's the first step. there's a lot more to do. but these candidates and these party leaders have to stand up to the press and say, no more of that. we're not asking for favoritism. we're asking for fairness. and if not, we're going after your stockholders, we're going to go to your boards, we're going to make an issue out of

you. and if your corporate sponsors say bye-bye, we're going to be on the dock waive waving good -- waving good-bye. that needs to be the position that republican party officials take on this. or don't complain. >> one more? >> going -- >> going, going, gone. >> thank you very much, i appreciate it. [applause] >> thank you, brent, and, of course, we do have copies of the book in the foyer be you would like to purchase them. we thank you for your kind attention and hope to see you again soon in the future. [inaudible conversations]

>> you're watching booktv, nonfiction authors and books every weekend on c-span2. >> booktv continues with re beck saw sive, a public relations consultant who gives advice to women on how to successfully run for be office. she talks about some of the strategies used by women who have been successful in national and local campaigns. this is about an hour. >> thank you, lisa, and good evening to everybody. i'm just thrilled to be here. i want to start by thanking all of you and thanking c-span for being here this evening. it's a very exciting time for me, but i think more importantly for our country. we're here in this evening in a very important week celebrating some very important times in our

history which this book really wants to be a part of. and celebrating a dream of dr. king's, but also a dream of susan b. anthony's, recognized on monday when we celebrated women's suffrage, a dream of a nation in which none of us would be judged either by the color of our skin or by the number of chromosomes, but by the content of our character and our commitment to equal justice. so this, for me, is a special time to be talking with you about in this commitment we all have and really the commitment of mine to write this book because i felt that it was an important time in our history following what lisa's talked about and the elections we've recently had to recognize that women really need to forge ahead, to realize that dream of not just freedom, but equal and full participation in our political life.

so i started thinking about this book a few years ago actually after those 18 million cracks in the glass ceiling, and i thought, well, what is needed here in and i talked to a lot of people about it, and, you know, the sort of typical books -- i looked at the books that were out there, i went to my local bookstore and saw all these books were facts and figures and how to meet deadlines for filing petitions on time or fund raising reports, something like that. there were some wonderful books about community organizing which is really, we can talk more about this, i hope, a requisite step in this process. but what i didn't want see and -- i didn't see and i thought, well, somebody could write this book and i thought, well, why not me? what i didn't see was a truth-telling, frank, inspirational primer for women who want to be elected

officials, appointed officials. and i thought, well, why not forge ahead? we're at a point in our history when we've had a lot of experience at this. for many of us in this room, we've been at this for decades, and there's a lot of beat wisdom to be showered, a lot of lessons to be learned, a lot of encouragement to be given to our sisters and is their brothers who want to help our sisters move along. so i decided on this inspirational book. i thought about, well, what are the attributes of book, and i actually -- there are a number of things that came to mind, but i tried to put in a short version for this evening to share with you. and i really came to the conclusion that there were three primary attributes that i hoped the book would have and that the stories it would tell and the advice it would share would

reflect. and the first one was that book "skinny be bitch" was an understand -- inspiration. a diet book. and what i thought about as i read it was -- to use another sort of cliche -- what they say is just do it. be you don't want to be -- if you don't want to be fat, don't eat cupcakes. and i thought, well, okay. i can understand that. i may not be able to apply that, but i think it's true in this context too. if you want to campaign to winker then stop sleeping late. and so -- i thought, okay, i'm going to be as honest and frank as those authors have been. and the second attribute i thought about, and this hearkens back to the early years for many of us who have been involved in the fight for women's political equality was an early book

called sisterhood is powerful written by or edited by robin morgan. a number of you may remember it. and i thought, well, yes, what's important about that 40 years hence, and what's important to me in this kind of a book is when we assert that power and when we assert that sisterhood, we win. we win not only for ourself toes as individuals, but for women as a group. and that, secondly, was a message i wanted the communicate in this book, a message that i think is terribly important today when there is perhaps at times, i think, too much focus on the individual and her achievement and in the enough on the group -- and not enough on the group and what it takes to succeed which is a group effort. the third thing i thought about as i kind of was imagining the themes of the book was i remembered a very early and

continuing heroine of mine, shirley chism. she had been discriminated against more as a woman than as an african-american. and that in part she ran for president because she was a woman, because she wanted to pick that statement. and i -- make that statement. and i think what i've gathered from that statement by the congresswoman is that we must understand as women as we night in this political sphere -- as we fight in this political sphere that there will be that ongoing discrimination, but that's no reason to go back to corner and not try. , and in fact, there were some interesting comments chism made after she lost saying i made a statement, i asserted a set of beliefs, i showed a woman could do it. we have had other women follow her. and so i wanted to communicate

that idea as well that there's no sense in being afraid and holding back. so i concluded that this book would kind of be, to speak colloquially from my hometown of chicago, it would say what time it is. and it would say what time it is for women who want to be public leaders and influential voices. i want to tell you a little bit more about the book, and i'll read several excerpts, but i wanted to just say briefly about why i felt i was the person to write this book. because i think any number of women have had a great deal of experience and could also write the book. but what i concluded was that having been both a public official for many years and a leader of women's advocacy organizations for my whole adult life that i understood that, so

to speak, insider drill. that once you're in that office where those decisions are made, how that works. but what i also realized at the same time is that i'm really a person who identifies as her heroes the women and the men beating down the door to get inside. and that that was the perspective that i wanted to bring because i think if we are to move beyond the numbers we now have in congress, as wonderful as they are, that we have to beat some doors down, and we really have to work hard to encourage women to run. so i thought, well, i'm no longer a public official, i'm no longer running an organization. i continue as an advocate as i always have been. and so let me take a try at this. the other thing is as i've thought about it, i thought about the women who have remained as heroes and i

inspirational people for me as i've done my work in this realm. and i realize in addition to chism, i thought about jane adams, i thought about ida b. wells, and i realize that none of these women ever minced words, none of them shrunk from a fight, and most important, they stayed true to their heart's beat. and i think that that's the other really important piece of why i was impelled to write the book. i want other women -- and we all do the best we can, sometimes we falter -- but we do try to stay true to our heart's beat. i want to -- i should take this out. i want to share with you several excerpts, as i mentioned, but

let me tell you first how the book is organized. it's a series of lessons intertwined with the advice and inspirational stories of -- i interviewed about 30 be women from all over the country. i also wrote from the public record about a number of other women including senator -- secretary of state clinton. as i put it in the introduction to the book, these women were from mississippi to manhattan. that was deliberate. i think it's really important to share the notion with women who dream of public office that there are important offices everywhere. they are not only in d.c. they are not only running big organizations. and so that was the commitment i made in terms of sharing stories. these lessons and these stories are divided into four sections in the book. the first is called "every day is election day." the second, "take on the big boys." the third, "you can never care

too much." and the fourth, "confront, co-opt, control." so i'm read some excerpts, and then i look forward to the q&a and discussion. as you heard lisa say, there are some amazing women in this room and a lot of great stories that i imagine i don't know, and we could all benefit from hearing at this very important time. so this first excerpt is from a chapter called "just show up." back in the late 1980s when i was a member of the chicago park district's board of commissioners, i was invited to attend a community meeting. barack obama greeted me when i arrived. he was a young and ambitious organizer working on chicago's poverty-stricken south side, and i chaired the committee overseeing the park's $300 million. despite what you hear about political deals being made in smoky back rooms, politics is

not fundamentally a private game. maybe you haven't been invited to a back room. so what? politics starts with organizing people and getting them to join your team. that's what neighborhood leaders were up to when they invited me to attend a meeting of the development -- developing communities project, and that's what i was up to when i responded that it would be my pleasure to attend. it was a hot august night, and i was a long way from home. the invitation was for a meeting in a church basement near a housing project in an african-american community about as far from downtown as you can go and still be in the city speaking both geographically and figuratively. nevertheless, i went. not because obama was a big deal. he wasn't then. and not because i thought i'd be hearing some new agenda for improving the parks that i hadn't heard yet or didn't agree

with. i already knew the organization's wish list. like every other group and every other underserved neighborhood, they would want more basketball courts, more swimming pools, a better fieldhouse. i didn't need to travel so far to learn that. but the night had promise. i showed up. i even remember what i wore. why? because this meeting would mean something in my own campaign to become a person who mattered, and i wanted to stand out. i just showed up. in this second excerpt from a chapter called "dive in and start swimming," i -- this chapter focuses on primarily on michigan u.s. senator debbie stabenow. most of you know who she is, chair of the senate agricultural

committee and an also important fact in light of what i'm going to read to you here, the only woman in american history to beat a sitting u.s. male senator for election. no small deal. so "dive in and start swimming." too many women who want to seek and hold public office are afraid to dive in. some think merely jumping in is corrupting. others think you have to be an insider to win. some will only enter with an invitation after someone else decides they've earned it. but when you jump in the political pool on your own and assert your right to be there whether you're fighting a righteous cause or because you want to be a political somebody, don't assume the competition will be fair. to choose another metaphor, take the hits, go back to your corner, wipe the sweat off your brow and come back swinging. barack obama is an excellent role model in this department. two years in senate, no foreign policy experience and no

executive experience. yet he presumed to belief that he could be -- to believe that he could be president of the united states. he didn't let his short resumé deter him, nor by the fear that others would accuse him of hubris. he simply stated he wanted the job and was willing to enter the ring to fight for it. sarah palin is another person who chose this route. you don't have to like these folks to agree with their political views, to appreciate their strategic brilliance. they know that picking a fight with the big guy helps in the efforts to beat him. louisiana governor huey long, my favorite example of this truism, knew it too. before he was governor, long was 25 and running as an unknown for a seat on the louisiana public service commission, but he didn't spend his time writing position papers or trying to get the big boys to like him. he picked a fite about rate

increases -- a fight about rate increases with standard oil. he said this huge company was his enemy, criticizing it vociferously and constantly, making speeches to people struggling to pay their utility bills because he was its singular opposition, huey long became its equal. debbie stabenow is one of 30 women ever elected to the u.s. senate, and she's been reelected twice. stabenow was in her mid 20s when she first ran for office in michigan, beating an older and more established candidate. before that she managed her husband's campaign for election to the county board of commissioners. when he lost, he said to her, you should run. you're the one who likes campaigning and talking to people. stabenow's opponent was an incumbent with deeper roots in the community. we had more political experience, but stabenow ignored his advantages and moved ahead with a belief in herself and her

cause, keeping the local nursing home open to low income senior citizens in the county who depended on it. stabenow did not now the minutiae of health care policy, nor did she know all the ins and outs of nursing home operations, but she knew if she won, nursing home residents could use medicaid to pay their bills. stabenow knew she was young, but be she knew she could and would learn more. all of your experiences are valuable in public service, stabenow says. you don't need a political science degree. in this third excerpt, i want to -- this is a chapter called use your connections just like the men do.

having a family member in public office should not be a deal breaker for a woman who seeks election. clearly, this capital can be used to the good. of course, male political dynasties hardly cause a raised eyebrow when it comes to the qualifications of their members. yet i see too many women who want to seek public office fall prey to the fear that voters or appointing officials might find their political connections offputting and decide not to put themselves forward. others drive down another dead end street, buying into the notion that women should somehow be purer than men and, therefore, shouldn't take advantage of being with insiders. as a practical matter, someone may open a door to a leadership opportunity, but the woman who walks through has to earn the votes. floors all over the place are littered with supine guys who thought otherwise. i talk about, i tell the stories of two people in this chapter,

one is lisa madigan, the present attorney general of illinois whose father is speaker of the house. and according to many, the most powerful man in illinois. but the other story i tell here is the story of catherine kimball, the first woman chief justice of the louisiana supreme court, recently retired. and it's, i think, quite compelling. of kitty kimball was born into a political family with a web of powerful connections. she married into another. she was first elected to a judgeship, the first-ever woman judge in her district in 1992. when i went to see her, kimball worked in a large courthouse you couldn't get inside without going through airport-type security. after you get past that, a big guy walks you to the elevator, rides up with you and walks you down the hall to her office. that's where you find justice kimball behind a very large desk. in her home parish, said

kimball, mother's father was the sheriff. after he died, his son -- my uncle -- became the sheriff. her husband was a member of louisiana statehouse of representatives in the district where he grew up, and she first ran for judge, replacing her husband's uncle. kimball says her husband's being a politician was instrumental to herself. you get the picture. clearly, this kind of hardball isn't for the faint of heart or the woman who fears what pretty competition in the public -- political competition will always foster, criticism. but soft baas is only played at campaign photo ops. playing hardball is the way to win. so what i want to say here in these three excerpts and really throughout the book is that, um, there are some -- that the tactical approach that women need to adopt is the same as

men's. i mean, you have to get more votes than the other guy or the other girl, right? but the messages and the beliefs and -- that you bring to that fight, the belief in women, the belief in the power of women is what is different and important. and thirdly, what is so different and so important is recognizing some of these truths that i just tried to share with you for a minute here about being willing to do things that perhaps are considered impolite or aggressive or unfounded or go against b the history of women as public leaders and making the place a cleaner place. so what this says is that every day is election day, that, yes, you can take breaks to hang out with your girlfriends and go to pilates class or whatever it is.

but be your dream is to be a public reeder, recognize -- leader, recognize that you will have to fit those breaks in. but that if you do, you will experience a kind of joy that at least -- and i'll speak for myself here -- you won't find elsewhere. and i just want to close by sharing this thought with you. i began my work as a women's advocate in chicago in the early '70s, and we put together, actually, a directory of women's services to the city. that had never been tone before, and i organize -- done before, and i organized a group of women. we were a collective. that was the thing to do at time. and there was, it was enormously difficult. we weren't paid, we published it ourselves, we rode it around to bookstores, we promoted it. we actually were very successful.

but there was a lot of sweat and heart ache in the process. but i have to tell you, i went downtown, and i saw this book, you know, "chicago women's directory," in the marshall fields in down talk about chicago. and that book talked about equity for women. and those of of us who had put that book together had realized our dream. so that's what i intend here. i hope that as we go forward this book can be some part of the effort that so many people aren gauged in to educate -- are engaged in to educate and train and encourage and mobilize and inspire women all over the country who will go forth. and last but not least, i want to close with just one of those inspirational stories. it's the story of gwen page. she is superintendent of schools

in the east jasper school district in the southeastern part of mississippi close to where the civil rights workers were killed in the '60s. but gwen was born in the delta. she grew up in -- chopping cottop, live anything a three-room shack outside of clarksville. she went to local community college, she became the first african-american homecoming queen at the college. she then had two children and had her ph.d., i think, by the time she was 30. and i -- against was, i was told about against by derek john soften, the head of the naacp in mississippi, and he said you're going to love talking to gwen. and i did can. and i thought to myself as we finished therinterview, if gn

can realize this dream, 39 years old, chopping cotton in the 1980s in mississippi, then we have a duty, i think, to encourage other women and ourselves to work equally hard and to fight equally hard and to give them, you know, whatever tools we can. so thank you for being here. i'm happy to talk further. [applause] and as we go into the q and a, i understand people should come to the mic. i want to recognize three women who have helped me along the way who are here tonight, marsha greenberger, heather and jane panski. thank you for being here. [applause] yes, sir. >> my name is alan, my niece wrote the book "through the

cracked ceiling." >> right. the it's a great book. >> the politics are a tad different, but that doesn't mean that blood isn't a lot thicker than water. >> uh-huh. >> there are some things that you've really down played, and that is all things being equal, there's competence, there is responsibility and specifics about how to make things better. >> yes. >> despite what one's sex is. the clintons are actually proving that ronald reagan was not the teflon guy. i haven't forgotten whitewater, the responsibilities of what happened at whitewater, options trading, the mess of pardons that weren't deserved and all sorts of things like that. >> right. >> so and then the other deal with winning the election in new york is court i of rudy -- courtesy of rudy giuliani having all sorts of mess with his

private life that made bill clinton's look tame plus his prostate. >> you know, thank you more your comment. this is a really important point, and i appreciate your raising it. one of the things that i believe from be my own experience, and i talk a lot about it in the book is how fallible we all are. and how we all make big mistakes, how we falter. sometimes it's our own fault. but that that's no reason not to keep trying to do good. and i think that's where i come out. now, each of us has our own threshold, as you say, our politics may vary. but where i come out and what i want to do in my own writing and speaking is just to do the very best i can to encourage people to keep trying to make the world a better place. and i'm particularly interested in seeing women do that, but i think that for all of us to take

that to heart is a helpful thing in the times we're in. >> [inaudible] the clintons have given new meaning to don't ask, don't tell which means if you don't is can, we won't tell, vice versa. therefore, there's no responsibility. >> thank you. >> when you were introduced -- >> uh-huh. >> -- many things were said about your background. but having known you in chicago -- >> yes, ma'am. >> -- there are many things that weren't said about your become. i'm not going to tell all the tricks -- [laughter] but there are two things that i think, amongst many. rebecca was one of the first, if not perhaps -- she was the most prominent early white woman who supported mayor washington when he ran in the primary when it was a very unpopular thing to do. >> right. >> and played a role in

galvanizing for one of the great mayors of, great political leaders. >> uh-huh. >> and also convened women across constituency, race, geography, all parts of the city and brought us all together. so you thanked some people before. i want to thank you especially for dynamic role that you played in the city of chicago. and you said you were writing to be a truth-telling, frank and inspirational, and i found your presentation truth-telling, frank and inspirational. but also i know that's how you've lived your life. i do have a question. >> when heather gets a question, get ready. [laughter] >> and that is you've given us this truth-telling, frank and inspirational guide -- enter right. >> -- for how we can move ahead. but it's a time in which while individual women may be moving

ahead -- >> right. >> -- there is a pushback on so much about what we care about. >> right. >> jane was telling me at the beginning she's in north carolina. they are pushing back on everything. >> absolutely. >> certainly about women, but about voting rights -- >> right. >> -- about reproductive rights -- >> absolutely. >> -- about delivery of services. and it's happening in state after state. >> right. >> and i wondered if you had advice and perhapsst the advice of the book, but if you had advice for us in nation facing this back latch against -- backlash against women in particular and against the fundamentals of this active democracy you're talking about. >> thank you, heather, for asking that question. i would say that part of the advice comes from what i learned from harold washington. and i'll tell you a story about that. when i was called by his then-campaign prg in october of 1982, clarence will remember

robinson taking the lead at that time. and they said would you join the campaign? and i said i was waiting for your phone call. i can tell you some more stories about my relationship with the mayor, but i then said, yes, of course. butting the sort of pushy girl i am, i said i also have to talk to harold about this. and so i met with mayor in a little chinese restaurant across the street from his apartment on 53rd street in hyde park, and we had a coke, coca-cola. [laughter] and harold, the mayor -- always the mayor to me -- took the cocktail napkin under his imlaz, and he said -- i had said to him, well, you know, it doesn't really matter to me whether you win or lose because i'm really commit today what you stand for, and this is what i'm always going to fight for.

and he looked at me under his eyebrows, he said, okay, rebecca, listen to me. and he wrote out on this cocktail napkin literally a list of 16 words in which if he got 90% plus vote, as he put it, it wouldn't matter what white people did, that he would win in the primary. and that was a very, very important lesson to me that i think about as i think about these times we're in. and, you know, the battles we're fighting. because i think that i believe it's true that if we were able to successfully mobilize all of the women in the so to speak precincts or key wards who believe as we do, for instance, that women should have right to control their own bodies, that we could prevail in greater numbers in these legislative districts where there are presently anti-choice people

making laws. so that's one strategy. i think the other thing, and i try to talk about this in the book, i do say in the book that the issue of women's reproductive rights is an issue that is uniquely ours. to state an obvious, factual truth, but that women who want to be in public life need to understand. and i would say -- b and i include myself in this -- that we haven't always dope the best job of -- done the best job of making that case. we've sometimes fallen prey to, well, reasonable minds can find the right thing to do, and we just talk to these guys, and maybe if we hire some male lobbyists, it won't matter. well, maybe it has and maybe it hasn't. but i think we need to do a better job of explaining to women beyond the so to speak natural constituency. and i tell a couple stories in the book about this. one is aiden --

[inaudible] 's story. it's a story about trying to adopt a sex education curriculum in a very conservative community. and when i interviewed aidan at the end of the conversation, she finish i'm paraphrasing here. she said, you know, some issues are really uniquely ours. we just have to make them a priority. so you're welcome. ms. greenberger, oh, my goodness. [laughter] some heavy lifting here, you guys. i hope you're sympathetic. >> well with, i am very sympathetic and very impressed by the book. >> thank you. >> i wanted to underscore a couple points that, to me, were both unique and extraordinarily helpful and insightful. >> uh-huh. >> one was the actual juxtaposition between the very empowering, individual stories of fascinating women and the stories themselves are a part of

history. >> right. >> but they're seen from a perspective that history doesn't always tell. >> right. >> and their relevance to an individual person in this woman's ability to really step up and dive in and make that plunge and make that difference. >> right. >> but the other thing is the practical how tos. from the kinds of speeches and you have a success, how you -- if you have a health care, how you publicize it. and the step-by-step advice throughout the book that is so important. >> thank you. >> i've been at the national -- [inaudible] now for many years -- >> thank goodness. >> well, thank you. but we are issue advocates. >> right. >> very much relating to people who end up getting elected. and one of the issues we're working on right now is equal

pay. >> right. >> and there's a lot of discussion about why women just don't step up and negotiate more themselves harder. and you draw parallels between issue advocacy and advocacy on behalf of yourself to run for office. >> right. >> but also the parallels, i hi, about -- i think, about what may make some women step back either as candidates or as public leaders or even as their own advocates in the context of pay. and a very interesting study has shown that in the context of equal pay if women have salary information and feel that they know what they're talking about, they will negotiate. for themselves. what your book to me so critically important about and

it's a great contribution while it's a terrific read and an interesting and inspiring read, it also gives us how tos. >> yes. >> and that is so empowering and important for women. and some of it may seem very straightforward, but in truth what it does is resonate as ru, and you're -- as true, and you're articulating in a way i think allows women to be much more intentional and to have the confidence that they could make this work. >> yes. thank you for saying that. [applause] i -- let me just tell you a story that's in the book related to what marsha has said about -- it's very important to both tell the story of how someone did spit what those practical tens were. and -- steps were. and marsha mentioned earlier that there's a reception at the

white house this evening for leaders of the civil rights movement, and i was reelectflecking -- reflecting on that for a while. and listening to marsha just now and remembered the story of another woman i interviewed, deanna from new mexico, and she started out as the very typical neighborhood mom. there wasn't a sign at the school crossing. so she said she went and organized her friends, she did something about that. they said why don't you run for the pta. she said i don't know how to do it, right? so she learned. she then was encouraged to run more office. she became a county board member, and then a few years later she was invited to be a special assistant to cabinet secretary salazar. so from the p, a to the white house -- pta to the white house,

learning what she needed to learn along the way, right? and i share her story because i exactly want women to know that it's not just some woman in some far off place who was born with a silver spoon many -- in her mouth or who knew all the rules because her daddy was a senator. but that we can all learn this, and we can all do this. and if we falter, we can get up again. so thank you for saying that. mass. [applause] >> yes, ma'am. >> hi, rebecca i don't know you, but with i wish i did. >> well, it's a pleasure to meet you, tell me your name. >> my name is mindy, and i've worked internationally. my question is this, there have been a number of women in countries, they've been prime ministers, presidents, some of them haven't paid too much attention specifically to women's issues, and i'm wondering if you have any thoughts about that very interesting panorama of women leaders and what they have to teach us.

>> that's really a good question, thank you. i think two things. one is that i think that -- and having women at these political decision making tables matters whether or not they are explicit advocates for women's issues. seeing a woman run a country, i mean, i remember, you know, seeing indira gandhi, seeing even pga relate thatcher say -- even margaret thatcher say. that is very important. so at some level i think the more we see women in power, the better it will be for young women. at the same time, i do say in my book -- and i have an early chapter called "six easy rules rules" -- i talk about the fact that you can win with and for women. and that is something i really believe. so i guess i would say if i were, you know, had been able to

sit in be a room with margaret thatcher, say, who said she was not a feminist, i would have reminded her that femme knits -- feminists enabled her to be in the place where she was. i don't know if that was from mat call or not. and that she, like it or not, did spend a bit be of time on issues that women care about and it would behoove her to spend more. so i guess i want at all times to sort of find a way to capture the strength and the power and the voice that those women have and just to sort soft -- to sort of say to younger women you can have that voice, too, and when you have that voice, i hope you will speak out on behalf of women. yes, ma'am.

>> thanks so much for being here today to, and i look forward to reading your book. >> thank you. >> i was also thinking that women, the public responds to us differently, our colleagues respond to us differently, treat us differently. so can you talk to some of the ways that women might experience running for office differently and how we can prepare ourselves for those differences? >> really, really important thing to think about. be -- there is in the literature a set of challenges that are recorded that women face. they worry about work and family issues, they worry about whether they can raise enough money, they wait to be asked, they worry about whether they're qualified for the job. so one of the things that goes on among a lot of women is that they do share those concerns,

and they have some difficulty kind of getting past them. so that's something i think that women need to face and to recognize that we can be way more like men many that respect -- in that respect. if a woman, for instance, says that, well, i see that my state rep is working on education matters in my community and i care about this, then she doesn't need so to say, well, i need to go get a ph.d. in education, she can also say i want to be a state rep, right? which is what men typically do. so looking at those sort of historical channels and figuring out a way past them. there are some other challenges that are unique to women. you know, there's a lot of literature about how women are judged more severely in terms of appearance. there's been some current debate about that. there's also in the up until

recent years a lot of discussion about whether if you're single oryou're married without children, the challenges that that presents. so my approach here is -- and i've talked about this in the book -- i tell stories in the book of women who have just walked right past all that, right? just walked right past all that. so take senator mikulski. okay? the longest-serving woman in the u.s. congress in our u.s. -- in our history. does she fit that standard profile that everybody says you have to be? nope. is she successful in her district? yes. she's been reelected many times. is she successful on capitol hill? absolutely. is she successful in the world of discussion about those issues? i tell a story in the book, this is another mississippi story, about a woman named monica banks

who is the chancery clerk of a county, the only african-american to ever be elect inside that county which is predominantly white. unlike the area further west. and monica told me that when she was in high school -- mind you, in a segregated community -- a white woman who was the county clerk came to talk to them. and she told them about her job. it was a career day. right? and monica told me that she came back home, and she said i can do that. now, look at the barriers that she -- look at the challenge that she was contemplating, right? so i think these barriers are real. i think sometimes you go after an office, as monica did can, county clerk. it wasn't open, she chose another one. but at the same time, i think that there are a lot of examples

in our current women's relationship of women -- leadership of women who have taken a nonriggsal path or come from a nontraditional background or come from a minority group. you know, there are two jewish women senators from the state of california. 10% of the entire female population of the u.s. senate. i have a chapter called your personality self-test. it listed a whole bunch of attributes to take the measure of them, but then having taken the measure, thank you, proceed. so please do. you're welcome. >> hi. i was wondering if there's information out there about the types of policies that women support. obviously, there's a diverse array of values within women -- >> yes. >> they tend to support these types of policies other those and maybe the legislative bodies in can they sit, if they're

influenced based on the presence of women. >> where yes. this is a really important matter. it is historically can the case that when women started to be elected in meaningful numbers if not large numbers in state legislatures, that issues like rape, domestic violence, equal pay, the equal rights amendment at that time came to the fore. and that what also happened was that women formed bipartisan legislative caucuses to work on these issues. so there's absolutely a truth to the notion that there are issues that when women are in office, they tend to focus on and that those -- helping solve those particular problems is a great benefit to women and girls. it's also true that in this era there's less of that going on.

but i've read a couple articles recently, i think one in "the new york times" that talked about how the women u.s. senators, republican and democrat, come together on a monthly basis to try to identify issues they can work on together and that they are successful in that. so while i'm not a polly ann ma by any stretch, and i am very much of a pragmatist, that exactly leads me to that place. where are those issues that we can work on together and out of the success with those and the trust that is built, maybe we can move further. so that's kind of a practical approach i would recommend. >> one quick question. 30, 40 years ago when women started being elected in large numbers, it was women who had raised tear children. >> right. >> who'd established themselves

in the community. i remember when harriet woods ran in missouri, and she had to be home every night to put dinner on the table for her husband until a bunch of women said we'll get the dinner on the table, we'll take care of his laundry. but do you see a trend of it being younger women now? women willing to take the risk of failure and start earlier? >> apparently there is -- i mean, there are two examples come to mind, one is senator gillibrand on democratic side, the other is governor haley in south carolina who i believe also has young children. and those are just two. it is one of those traditional barriers, you're right, jane, that women waited because they thought, well, if i could solve this childcare problem, maybe it won't be so bad, right? but now they understand the sooner they get started, the further they may be able to travel, the more likely impact and influence they will have. and i will just share one number

that i came across recently in this regard that i thought was quite telling. it was a number that said that the arc of a politician's or a public official's career is 12 years from the place at which you start -- whatever place that is -- to the place where you end. right? so the low you lower down -- ok, so then i come back to barack obama, right? okay, as one example. well, jump up as high as you can as fast as you can. if you think you have the power and the fortitude and the intelligencing to do it. those 12 years hold when you look at the careers of a number of people. that isn't to say that you may not stay in that last place in a very long time like members of the u.s. senate. but it's, but if -- insofar as, say, some of them may have aspired to be president, they're

probably not going to be president. so i would encourage women to figure that out. i actually think that the longest chapter in the book in terms of pages is about this having it all thing, is about how to figure out how to manage both. and i mentioned lisa madigan earlier of illinois, attorney general. she talks a lot in that chapter about how she has worked that out. and a number of ore women, including a woman, molly board narrow, who was ambassador to malta in the second president bush's administration, and her husband was the househusband in malta. so that she could be an ambassador. i believe the youngest female ambassador we've ever had. so it can be done. it probably should be done if you believe that math. yes, ma'am. >> we're going to have to time for one more question. i just want to say very quickly -- sorry to interject -- we have time for one more

question. i am really embarrassed that i neglected to mention the title of book which i know rebecca did, but i should too. it's "every day is election day." if you haven't gotten a copy yet, we do have plenty up front. those watching on television, you can order from us 24/7 online at work work w dot politics-prose.com. it's a great gift book. we hope you will support rebecca and her effort to get more women involved in our political world. and one more question and thank you very much. >> hi. >> hi. >> i'll make this quick. in so, first, let me start by saying that i'm not in the political arena at all -- >> uh-huh. but you're here, and we're glad you are. >> and i very much enjoyed the lecture. wonderful, thank you. >> you're welcome. >> i'm dipping my toes into the political arena in my realm, and i was just wondering if you had any advice for bringing women's issues to the forefront because i'm, for example, going to be the head of the, of my

association starting next year and the first woman to ever have done that in the last 20 years. [applause] >> terrific. >> so i think it's wonderful to bring that to notice, but i don't want to scare anybody. so do you have any advice on how to bring women's issues to -- >> well, you can't hide the fact that you're a woman, right? [laughter] so i wouldn't -- so don't be shy about saying, yes, this is what i did, and this is why i did it. and i i inso favre, i mean, there's this sort of old cliche about all issues are women's issues. it's true, so i don't know what your association is about, but i imagine if you thought about what your agenda will be as a leader, that you will find some places in that agenda to bring in a sortover women's can -- a sort of women's issues component if you think about it a bit. hope you'll do that. >> sorry, just to follow up. is your experience that other male colleagues tend to be very supportive, or is that --

[laughter] >> well, i think there are probably as many experiences as there are people in this room. i think that i'm a big fan of being polite but insis tent. if you know that you have a good point of view that is a good one. you're welcome. i want to thank politics and prose for having me here, it's an absolute treat. and i want to thank c-span for joining us here this evening and thanks to all of you. if you'd like me to sign a book, i'd love to sign one, and have a wonderful evening. [applause] >> visit booktv.org to watch any of the programs you see here online. type the author or book title in the search bar on the upper left side of the page and click "search." you can also share anything you see on booktv.org by clicking "share" on the upper left side of the page and selecting the format. booktv streams live online for

48 hours every weekend with top nonfiction books and authors. booktv.org. b. >> booktv is marking its 15th ab versely this fall -- an anniversary this fall. in 1999 "the new york times" book review chose "an affair of state: the investigation, impeachment and trial of president clinton," as one of their notable picks. c-span: which book of yours sold the most? >> guest: curiously, i think one of my recent books, "the first world war." to my -- i wrote about it because my father was in the first world war, and like most publish people i'm fascinated by first world war. killed so many of our fellow citizens. but i wrote it simply because i

wanted to write it. i said to my publisher, well with, i'm afraid it won't sell very well many america. i had a huge american readership, so that was a rather important consideration. but i was quite wrong. it sold tremendously well in the united states. it sold, i think, nearly 200,000 copies in the united states. and i think there has developed -- i don't think it was there 20 years ago, 30 years ago, there has develop canned an extraordinary interest in the first world war in the united states. why? it's difficult to say. >> also on the 1999 book review's lists is "morgan" about j.p. morgan and "radding the holocaust." continue watching booktv over the next few weeks for several more on our last years on the

air. >> here's a look at book fairs and festivals happening around the country.

>> please let us know about book fairs and be festivals in your area, and we'll add them to our list. e-mail us at booktv@c-span.org. >> next on booktv, dr. sanjay basu reports on the correlation between health and economic issues and talks about the rise in rates of things like heart disease, suicide and hiv as a result of government cuts in social and health spending. this is about 0 minutes. -- 40 minutes. [applause] >> thank you. well, thanks for coming. i'm going to talk for about 30 minutes or so about some data, and what i'll present to to you is data discussing why we might think about the recession not just in terms of stock markets and economic growth and debts and deficits, but really in terms of our health and the bl