If George W. Bush is the kind of person folks might like to have a beer with, John McCain is the guy you pray you don't get seated next to at a dinner party.

It took us 200 years to elect the first Democratic woman to the Senate in her own right, and that's Barbara Mikulski. Six years later, we had a grand slam: We elected four new Democratic women to the Senate. Sen. Mikulski now has some company.

On the national stage and in the neighborhoods of New York, Senator Hillary Clinton has repeatedly put her expertise and power behind solutions that make the lives of the American people safer and more prosperous.

I think having Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the House is going to send a very wonderful lesson to the American public that women can be strong, they can be tough, they can be effective, and they can lead this country as political leaders.

I was encouraged that a group of women wanted to start WISH List, which works like EMILY's List, only it supports pro-choice Republican women. It was started by one of our members, and I was happy to tell her how we did it and encourage her.

This nation is really ready for a woman president. It's taken time, but we're ready.

Between 1972 and 1987, the number of Democratic women in the House had actually gone down, from 14 to 12. EMILY's list started doing House races in 1988.