17 February 2008
As I have already mentioned I blog on wordpress.com. On wordpress it has a feature that allows me to see what terms people search in order to get to my blog. The one topic that still surprises me is how many people look up information to see if Hillary Clinton is the first woman to run for president. I can answer that.
Hillary Clinton is NOT the first woman to run for president.
I never thought of this as uncommon knowledge. I am only 18 yet I remember 8 years ago Elizabeth Dole ran for president and only 4 years ago Carol Braun did.
I did a little research and I found out something even more surprising. Women have been running for president since the 1872 election. That is no typo. Victoria Woodhull was the first woman to run for president in 1872. Hillary Clinton is the 12th different woman to run for president and 2008 is the 15th time a woman has run.
Although Hillary Clinton is undeniably the most supported female candidate in the at least last 12 years, she is NOT the first woman to run for president.
When I researched this I found a great site put up by Rutgers University which gives a lot of detail on which females have run for president in the past and when. It is:
http://www.cawp.rutgers.edu/Facts/CanHistory/prescand.pdfNow my question for everyone, and please be honest: Did you know Hillary Clinton was not the first woman to run for president?
I knew this, because like you I did remember the candidates from the two most recent elections. Like you said, Hillary is the heaviest supported female ever. The fact that she is a woman running isn't the big deal. The big deal is she is a woman that a very large amount of people actually see winning this thing.
I actually did not know that other women had run for president. But like you said, she is the most supported, so I guess that's why I never bothered to really find out if she was the first woman to run.
I can understand not trying to find out, because she clearly has the most support (and a very good chance of winning). Had I not remembered, I personally would be extremely curious if she was the first woman to run for president.
i knew she wasnt the first woman but i think this is the first time in an election that we actually care whether or not a woman can handle the Presidency. We as a people are ready for a change even if it means Hilary is President. This election we dont care who runs for nomination as long as someone better than Bush is President
You do bring up a good point. People do just want change more than they care who is in office right now.
~Jessica Mondillo
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/jmondillo
Yes I did know. I think that anyone who does/didn't know shouldn't even vote. C'mon now.
[Krst]
I think that is a good point about the uninformed no being able to vote. After all the 2 elections prior to this one both had a woman candidate. I am thrilled to see what I assume is mainly younger bloggers that actually know this. I have a blog on wordpress and my Hillary Clinton post is the most visited. To get to it the use search terms that make it obvious they don't know if she is the first women to run for president or not.
~Jessica Mondillo
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/jmondillo
Of course I knew about the others--the recent ones at least. As several people have pointed out, the reason Hillary's got so much fanfare is because she might actually have a shot, something previous candidates certainly never had.