Media Watch

The Christian Scientist Monitor mentions Kirsten Gillibrand and John Sweeney (R-NY) in today's story Lifting Barriers to Electing More Women:

... both political candidates and the media should stop stereotyping women. The latest example: US Rep. John Sweeney (R) of New York recently called a Democratic challenger, Kirsten Gillibrand, a "pretty face." The White House Project, a nonpartisan group that helps women advance in leadership, studied six gubernatorial elections in 1998 and found the media not only covered women candidates less, but also more personally and stereotypically.

After the flack over the "pretty face" comment, Sweeney resorted to calling Kirsten Gillibrand, "a caricature of what a candidate should be." Then he tried to tell us "I don't know anything about her."

It is interesting to note that earlier when Sweeney appeared to be drunk at a frat party, Gillibrand had no comment.

The CSM story discusses fundraising:

One [barrier] is high campaign costs. Women have the skills for fundraising but often don't have as many business connections - i.e. cash sources - as their male opponents. Reducing the amount of money spent in campaigns would help lower the cost barrier for political outsiders - both men and women.

The good news: Gillibrand has shown she has as many contacts as "the next guy" does when she out campaigned Sweeney this quarter.

Thanks to Some Snohomish Women for the link to the CSM story.