Geraldine Ferraro handicaps the election

A diminutive Geraldine Ferraro shared a secret with a packed ballroom at UVA’s Newcomb Hall on Wednesday night, September 13. During her 1984 campaign for the vice presidency, she stood on an important platform. Specifically, a box. “It really made a difference,” the former Democratic congresswoman said with a laugh.
    Ferraro delivered a keynote address on her most popular platform—the role of women in politics— in an event sponsored by UVA’s Center for Politics, Wilson Center and Women’s Center. Though she acknowledged her position as a model for women in politics, Ferraro spent little time on her position as a figurehead in 1984, focusing instead on the importance of female officials and the female voters that enable them to take office, nationally and internationally.
    Ferraro’s speech came on the same evening that another female political ground-breaker, Ann Richards, died at the age of 73. Richards was a one-term Texas Governor who lost a re-election bid to George W. Bush in 1994.
    After an introduction by the first female attorney general of Virginia, Mary Sue Terry, Ferraro took the stage and shared predictions, but no endorsements, for the 2008 presidential race. Ferraro mentioned Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Texas Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, as strong candidates for the Republican presidency and vice presidency in 2008. When she reached the Democratic hopefuls, she conceded that Hillary Clinton “could win the nomination and election.”
    Ferraro predicted the Congressional elections, too. “We currently have 70 women in the House of Representatives. And one of them—Nancy Pelosi (D—CA)—will be Speaker after the midterms,” she said.
    At the conclusion of her speech, Ferraro answered questions from the audience. A student asked Ferraro to expand on a statement that women “should love who they choose.”
“You mean, ‘Do I support gay marriage?’” Ferraro asked to applause. “Yes.”
    Another man said he was torn between two 2008 hopefuls: former Virginia Governor Mark Warner and Clinton. He then asked if Clinton’s “hawkish” presence and “tough opinions on tough questions” implied that she was “running as a man.”
    “You don’t run as a woman or man—you just run,” Ferraro answered, then added: “I think Governor Warner is terrific. Maybe he’d like to be [Clinton’s] V.P.”