Congress' Feminine Mystique May Wane in '08

If Hillary Clinton is elected president next year, she could be deilvering her State of the Union before a dwindling number of women, the Journal reports. Many female governors and congresswomen face either tough re-election campaigns or term-limit boundaries in 2008, and after a surge in the early 1990s, the number of female office-holders could tumble.

Although women make up a majority of voters, the number of female candidates has “hit a plateau,” one expert says. Complicating matters next November, according to strategists, are hot-button issues—including terrorism, the Iraq war and immigration—on which women candidates have a major perception deficit, and which may have scared ambitious women out of electoral politics. (More Hillary Clinton stories.)