By Cathy Allen

I am woman, hear me roar

In numbers too big to ignore

And I know too much to go back an pretend

cause Ive heard it all before

And Ive been down there on the floor

No ones ever gonna keep me down again

--- Helen Reddy, Song Lyrics from “I Am Woman”

Yeah, yeah. That and about a half million dollars can get a woman a seat in Congress – if she doesn't blow the advantages she has running as a woman candidate.

Still running for office against a man has its challenges, its benefits, its disadvantages and its history. There is now a track record upon which we now arm our women going into battle against male opponents.

The Basics

First and foremost, women still need to follow the golden rules of winning a good campaign. Since 94% of all incumbents are returned to office, she needs to find an open seat. Then our candidate of the fairer sex needs to make sure she has the right message going to the right target, at the right time, many times, in a variety of ways. Indeed, more than 80% of all campaigns are determined on this basic tenet as opposed to all the other myths and truths of gender politics. However, that last 20% can win you or lose you the race.

There is a Difference

Number One Rule: Don't take women voters for granted; in fact, male candidates have learned to target women first – especially older women --- and they are very successful at taking them away from women candidates;

Special targets: go after young voters: there is a political umbilical cord between women and younger voters; women in low income jobs; single mothers, higher educated women, people of color;

Watch that voice: don't sound like a bitchy mother-in-law; keep that voice lower, louder and slower.

The media do tend to notice more that there's a woman candidate in their midst. Male newspaper reporters are especially observant of the image, clothes, and colors and reference them in stories more than women reporters seem to notice gender and image.

The Quick and Dirty Tips

Be careful using the chauvinist card: women are the first ones offended when you call your male opponent patronizing. If your male opponent is treating you chauvinistically, call him arrogant. No one wants to see women using their sex to guilt voters into voting for them.

Watch out for how you have your picture taken: forego the dumb blonde look where you are grinning and looking silly when your voter statement beside the picture is talking about problems with education, crime or people out of jobs. Smile with your eyes – not your mouth.

The Truths

There are issues and values where the public thinks women would do better so it's good to run with these issues on your side:

Honesty, integrity, stopping corruption, asking questions that ought to be asked and demanding justice, fairness and more open public access and public involvement n decision-making;

Issues such as education, health care, the environment, equity, children are where we do better;

People hate the status quo, we're not the status: we're a new voice, a fresh approach – and we attract others who also aren't part of the status quo like people of color, low-income, young people;

We're better listeners – and the public prefers people who are listening to them as opposed to talking to them; they also like that women seem more motivated by a genuine sense of correcting the problems than ego-driven.

There are issues and styles that hurt women as well. The public in many cases is just as stereotyped about what they think women do less well.

On the issues, the economy is a tough one – voters think we still can't cut deals with big corporations, will raise taxes every time a child cries, and are bad with budgets (that math thing with women again);

With crime and the military, the public will think he is more likely to do the right tough stuff when it's called for: women still find it hard to pull the trigger, in either death penalty cases or in cases of war;

Women tend to be perceived as going overboard on “their” issues to the detriment of the rest of the population. She will be so determined about children, equal rights, pro-choice, equal pay, more minority special programs and special funding for her community interests that she will not be good for the majority.

Women are too sensitive and take normal political maneuvering too personally and emotionally; they find it hard to delegate; they are control freaks, and they can't work with other women;

Women care more about details, not the big picture. We ask too many questions, talk too long, want more meetings over more decisions, and often want to make everybody happy and compromise too easily just to please constituencies.

The Mythical Negatives

In informal surveys of more than a thousand women who have run for local rural city councils to those running for U.S. Senate and Governor, we find that women's fears of being exposed for indiscretions in her past keep many women from running. They fear stories of them that they have never told their husbands, children or friends will end up on the front page of the newspapers.

The irony: it almost never happens. The biggest fears women have about negative hits include:

She's a loose woman: divorced, single, had pretty wild college years, flirts too much, sleeps around, has had an affair, had an abortion, or is a lesbian.

Her resume is too light; she's not smart enough. Women candidates with no college education or no advanced degrees are always feeling they are not academically credentialed enough. The irony is that few voters ever even notice.

She's not her own person. She will only be a puppet of her husband, brother, father, boss or special interest. Though some opponents like to make the argument, it falls on deaf ears with the voters.

She has only women working for her: she must have a male campaign manager. Hogwash. A woman candidate needs the best campaign manager she can find, male or female.

The Negatives that Kill

But there are negative attacks that do take their tolls on women candidates disproportionate to men.

Most deadly: “She's just not ready yet. Sure, she's smart, charming, well-connected, but she needs a little ore seasoning.”

Not far behind is the insidious charge, “She can't bring home the bacon as well as he can. She looks good and she'll ask lots of questions, but while she's talking about more public meetings, he'd be signing the deal to get us more funds for that road project we need.”

And then there's our old favorite negative, “She can't win – she'll never raise the money. She hasn't got any herself, and she hates asking for it.  Her campaign is filled with lots of well-intended volunteers, but she is running an old school wishin' and hopin' and thinkin' and prayin' campaign. Her campaign is dead on arrival.”

But the most common negative – most effective is a breach of integrity. If a woman is caught lying, whether it's on her resume, her voting record, her campaign contribution reporting, or conflicting comments to different special interest groups, she's in trouble bigtime. Because the voters see woman as more honest, when she abuses that trust, she seldom can regain the voters trust. They hold women more accountable than men, and though that may seem unfair, it's very true.