It's not quite time for the post-mortem, but it is so dead out here in election land that I thought I would point your attention to a post on PhillyClout about Lynne Abraham where she talks about women in Philadelphia politics:

Women really have to be tough, Abraham said. This is not a tea party.

Now you may not know this about me, but I don't like Lynne Abraham. Not personally of course. I don't know her. But I don't like her as our DA.

However, one thing I do admire is that she has won many city-wide races as a woman. Now I have heard all kinds of explanations as to why this is the case--often from folks who have a grudge against her--but no matter how you slice it, aside from a handful of city councilwomen at-large in maybe the last 20 years, she's held on to her post for a long time in a city and state that has a truly pitiful record of electing women. That is worth noting.

And the fact that is has happened so little is really a problem for "progressives." And even though I am glad to see her go, when Abraham leaves she will be replaced by a man which means a loss for local women in electoral power.

As such, I refer you to my golden oldie post asking which woman will run for Mayor in 2015. Let's not let that die:

http://youngphillypolitics.com/electing_woman_mayor_2015.

I would love to see us organize around a woman early on for Mayor in that race. It'd be a real coup to elect a woman Mayor and it is the kind of thing we could all get behind. And statewide races are tough in PA, but are we ever going to find a progressive woman who can run statewide and win? If not, maybe we all need to do more to help support emerging leaders.

(Which makes this a good time to acknowledge some interesting activity from the PA Women's Campaign Fund lately, not to mention the steady work of groups like Philly NOW and CLUW, and to toot my own group's horn, Liberty City which has a gender parity requirement for its board: Something other groups might want to consider as a practical way to create new women leaders.)

And of course some of that change could start right here as this is a blog too often dominated by male-ego driven...stuff.

So, women, please write.