
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, June 25, 1990                   TAG: 9006260404
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: GERALDINE A. FERRARO
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

WOMEN IN POLITICS NO LONGER A NOVELTY

DIANNE Feinstein, recent winner of California's Democratic gubernatorial primary, will not be asked repeatedly whether she knows enough and is experienced enough to run a government. She will not to have to speculate endlessly on how her gender will play out among the voters. She will not face an incredulous press. She will not be constantly asked how it feels to run for a highly visible office.

Because women seeking such offices is no longer a novel event. This year, 11 are running for their states' governorships; seven want to be U.S. senators. Their candidacies are not historic.

In 1984, I was a third-term member of Congress from Queens when Walter F. Mondale chose me to be his running mate. I never doubted my capabilities to be vice president. But I wasn't prepared to deal with a national campaign, especially one of such historic interest.

I was not nationally known. I had no experience running for national office. I hadn't even run for statewide office.

Nor had running for Congress provided me with the kinds of experience that I could draw on in '84. In 1978, I spent months preparing to leave the job of assistant district attorney to win a job as a member of the House of Representatives. I hired a staff of five and set out to make a name for myself.

My opponent, a right-wing member of the state assembly, decided on a negative campaign early on.i

We never got around to discussing the issues, but nobody noticed: The newspapers were on strike. When I won the election, the Queens edition of one of the papers that had just resumed publishing headlined its story: "Geraldine, Who?"

Feinstein and the other women candidates today are experienced politicians with long, well-known records of public service. Before they announced, I'm sure they spent months debating with family and friends the "what if's" of every aspect of the planned campaign. And once in the race, they no doubt spent hours honing their positions on the issues, trying them out in public and refining them with the press. These women are in control.

They also share the advantage of having been exposed to the negative campaigning in the 1984 and 1988 presidential races. And they have learned from those experiences. They might be unwilling to initiate a negative attack. But once attacked, they will not hesitate to respond quickly and precisely.

Most important, however, the Feinsteins are not saddled with the designation "woman candidate." They are candidates who happen to be women.

By this time next year, the press will be running stories about various governors and senators testing the waters for the 1992 presidential campaign. The question, of course, will be: Is it too soon for her to think about running?i

When we have fewer women making history, we will have more women making policy.

by CNB