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

DATE: SATURDAY, April 24, 1993                   TAG: 9304240397
SECTION: SPECTATOR                    PAGE: S-17   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: PATRICIA BRENNAN THE WASHINGTON POST
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

ELLERBEE VISITS NEW MEMBERS OF CONGRESS FOR LIFETIME SHOW

And at least one of them, Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., delivers what Ellerbee called "an impassioned speech on the budget that's reminiscent of James Stewart" in Frank Capra's movie, "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington." Her topic: child care.

Murray also tells Ellerbee that the disparaging remark that became her slogan, "a mom in tennis shoes," was part of what caused her to run for the office - that, and watching the treatment lawyer Anita Hill received at the hands of senators during the Clarence Thomas hearings for Supreme Court justice. "What comes through is that these are women who are not comfortable with the word no," said Ellerbee.

"They're women with a sense of outrage, a sense of `we want our government back.' It's early to say what they're going to accomplish, but what you can say is that at the end of the 100 days, they have not discovered anything that discourages them.

"They're not naive - a lot of these women are professional politicians, and politicians by nature have to compromise. I don't think what they're willing to compromise, though, is the fact that women's issues are now national issues."

Ellerbee's hour-long documentary is part of "Lifetime's Mission 100," examining what women want to change in their lives and in society.

"You start to see them coming to grips with power, both real and perceived, and see them in committees and on the (House and Senate) floor," said Ellerbee. You also see them back in their districts. Carrie Meek, granddaughter of slaves, is the first black lawmaker elected from Florida since Reconstruction. At 66, she is the eldest of the newly electeds.

Blanche Lambert, 31, the youngest woman in Congress, is seen in Arkansas where she won her Democratic seat from incumbent Bill Alexander, for whom she had worked as a secretary. And Marjorie Margolies Mezvinsky goes back to Pennsylvania to visit an elementary school and a senior citizens' center where, said Ellerbee, "she's trying to tell them some things about health care that they don't want to be told."