All-woman political Big 3? It could happen here

Washington could become the only state in the country where the three top elected officials -- in the governor's mansion and the U.S. Senate -- are women.

"You would be the first state where that has occurred," confirms political expert Debbie Walsh, who tracks trends for the Center For American Women and Politics at Rutgers University.

I welcome the day when the prospect of such a political trifecta would be unremarkable, when the presence of women in top posts would be par for the course.

Until that day comes, the possibility of women taking control of the upper echelon of regional politics is something to behold.

On Election Day, Washington could reprise the "Year of the Woman," a reference to 1992, when a tide of newly elected female leaders made big headlines.

Other races could make such talk a reality. If Deborah Senn gets more votes than Rob McKenna, a woman would remain in the office of attorney general, succeeding Gregoire.

In another contest, appellate Judge Mary Kay Becker squares off against lawyer Jim Johnson for an open seat on the state Supreme Court.

Should Becker triumph, the high court would keep its female majority, a distinction the court claimed two years ago when it became one of two state supreme courts -- Ohio was the other -- on which female justices outnumbered the men.

Olympia already shows how far women have come.

In 2004, women made up a whopping 35 percent of the Legislature -- tops in the country. Since 1993, Washington has been No. 1 in the country in the percentage of women in a legislature.

That distinction further stands out when you consider that last year the total number of female state legislators in the country dropped to 1,645, out of 7,382 total lawmakers.

That's a woeful 22 percent.

Inside the Beltway, women accounted for just 14 percent of seats in the 108th Congress.

The vigor of female politicos in Olympia is good for representative democracy, whether the elected officials are Republican, Democrat or "other."

Elected office in the Legislature often, though not always, becomes a pipeline that leads to greater things. Murray and Cantwell come to mind.

"Men can often appear on the scene out of nowhere," Walsh says. "For women, the process is more about working through the system."

Western states such as ours tend to help female candidates. That's because, broadly speaking, state parties do not exercise heavy- handed control, leaving the door open to prospective political candidates.

The success of female office- seekers here also underscores how Washington's male voters -- compared with say, male voters in the more culturally conservative South -- will cast ballots for qualified women.

Recent state poll data shows, for example, that 49 percent of men say they would vote for Murray.

Forty-five percent say they would vote for Gregoire.

And if this does turn out to be a "Year of the Woman" then Washington, politically speaking, would be on the verge of becoming a. ...

"Feminist utopia," Walsh says with a chuckle.

And that would be something special, just like the taxi guy said.

P-I columnist Robert L. Jamieson Jr. can be reached at 206-448-8125 or robertjamieson@seattlepi.com

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