“My candidacy was a benchmark moment for women. No matter what anyone thought of me personally, or of the Mondale-Ferraro ticket, my candidacy had flung open the last door barring equality – and that door led straight to the Oval Office.”… by Geraldine Ferraro in “Framing a Life, A Family Memoir,” published in 1998. 

It’s hard to believe that it has been 32 years since Walter Mondale named Geraldine Ferraro as his vice presidential running mate,  on July 12, 1984. The excitement back then was palpable.    Women’s efforts to end inequality felt like it was within reach — at the tips of their outstretched fingers.  The door to the Oval office had been opened, and the presidency was only one step away.  Just look at this photo taken a mere four days after the veep announcement in San Francisco, showing Ferraro hugging an exuberant Congresswoman Barbara Boxer.  But while they were excitedly chanting, “We’ve Come A Long Way, Baby”,  their male counterparts were surely snickering and whispering under their breath,  “Still Got a Long Way to Go, Sweetie”.  And they were right. Continue reading

For the first time in nearly four decades, California voters are going to hold the fate of one — if not two — national elections in its hands.  Will Californians propel Donald Trump over the finish line by giving him the delegates needed to secure the Republican Nomination?  Will California make history by giving Hillary Clinton the delegates she needs to become America’s first female major party presidential candidate?

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