Other vice-presidential prospects to watch, this time or next
The pool of potential female vice-presidential—and presidential—candidates is expanding rapidly. Ten years ago, there were only 16 women serving in Congress, all in the House. This year there are 24 on Capitol Hill: 22 in the House and two in the Senate. In Governors' mansions, statehouses and city halls, the rise in the number of female officeholders has been even more impressive. In 1974 there were no female Governors,*519 state representatives and only 91 state senators. This year, one Governor, 816 state representatives (of 5,452) and 177 state senators (of 1,986) are women. There are 86 cities with populations over 30,000 that have female mayors, in contrast with twelve a decade ago.
Although 55% of these officeholders are Democrats, the party has no women in the Senate and only 13 in the House. The result: the list of women who might conceivably appear on a Democratic ticket this year is quite limited. Herewith, the women other than Geraldine Ferraro and Dianne Feinstein most often mentioned as Democratic Veep possibilities: >Patricia Schroeder, 43. A Harvard-trained lawyer and a Congresswoman since 1973, the Coloradan is a leading member of the House Armed Services Committee. While getting high marks for her military expertise, Schroeder is often seen as a knee-jerk dove. She co-chairs the Congressional Caucus for Women's Issues, which counts 117 men among its 132 members. An outspoken feminist, Schroeder is married to a Washington lawyer and has two teen-age children. Her political profile is left of center: the liberal Americans for Democratic Action (A.D.A.) gives her a 90% rating.
Schroeder is a skilled orator and a tough politician. "Women should not campaign for the vice presidency," she maintains. "They should campaign for President. That's the way people get to be Vice President." She claims little or no interest in taking the No. 2 spot herself. That may be just as well: if fellow-Coloradoan Gary Hart is nominated, Schroeder, who co-chairs his national campaign, would be ruled out for geographic reasons. If Mondale is nominated, Schroeder thinks she would be considered only if Hart turned down the job. Says she: "My guess is that Gary Hart would add a lot more [to the ticket]. I'm only a surrogate." >Corinne C. ("Lindy") Boggs, 68. She came to office the old-fashioned way, by succeeding her late husband, Louisiana Congressman Hale Boggs. But she has stayed for six terms by carefully looking after her 45% black New Orleans district, and applying four decades of Washington know-how to a selected set of issues.