2010: Not the Year of the Woman

Much has been made of the successes of women in last Tuesday's primaries (I speculated this might herald an end of men in politics), but Hotline OnCall's Reid Wilson explains why this won't be the Year of the Woman:

Already, some women who were supposed to have won have been surprise losers. MA AG Martha Coakley (D) lost her SEN bid; ex-NV GOP chair Sue Lowden (R), arguably the most electable general election contender against Senate Maj. Leader Harry Reid, saw her campaign collapse after a series of gaffes (Though NV voters picked another woman, Assemb. Sharron Angle, in her place); and ex-US Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan (R), a highly touted GOP recruit, lost her PA 04 primary bid by a huge margin.

Though the GOP looks likely to pick up a big number of seats in the House this Nov., the overwhelming majority will be white males. Only 8 of the 104 candidates on any level of the NRCC's "Young Guns" roster are women, and just 2 of the 23 top-tier candidates are women, as National Journal's Erin McPike wrote a few weeks back.

As Wilson points out, 8 of 26 members of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee's "Red to Blue" program for top-tier candidates are women.