Barney Frank to retire, creating open seat in MA - now what?

(Courtesy of equalrepresentation.org)     Subscribe in a reader

Barney Frank will not run for re-election, creating a congressional open seat in MA - but according to The Hill there is only one women currently in the mix, State Senator Cynthia Creem. Not to mention that the ten current MA seats are all held by Democrats -- 9 men and only one woman, Niki Tsongas (who in 2007 was the first woman elected to Congress from MA in 25 years.) No other women "Ready to Run" for Congress in Massachusetts? Will the Democratic Party boost a woman in this relatively safe seat?

Oops! Forgot to mention that Democrat leaders will almost certainly play the "we cannot support anyone in primaries" card, using a rule that is followed when it suits them and ignored with impunity when they favor someone over others. This is a rule that can be changed at the 2012 Democratic Convention if action is taken leading up to the convention through the Rules Committee -- even if its a temporary rules change at least until women reach the 30 percent benchmark for seats in Congress. One state can start the ball rolling, but will anyone have the vision/guts to stand up to create the kind of concrete political change needed to make Equal Representation a reality in our lifetimes?

(More on "Every OPEN SEAT a Woman's Seat" in Chapter 11, SMOKE & MIRRORS: The Truth About the Political Status of U.S. Women)

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