numbers don’t lie; hillary does

Sometimes it’s hard to be a woman, no doubt. But, as Ryan J. Davis proves, voters have been much more amenable to female candidates than African-Americans. Strangely, I haven’t heard Obama whine about that.

There are currently 14 female U.S. senators: Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.), Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas), Mary Landrieu (D-La.), Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), Elizabeth Dole (R-N.C.), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), and Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.). There is currently a single African-American senator, Barack Obama (D-Ill.), who is only the third elected since Reconstruction.

There are currently eight female governors in America: Linda Lingle (R-Hawaii), Jennifer Granholm (D-Mich.), Janet Napolitano (D-Ariz.), Kathleen Sebelius (D-Kan.), Kathleen Blanco (D-La.), M. Jodi Rell (R-Conn.), Christine Gregoire (D-Wash.), and Sarah Palin (R-Alaska). There is currently a single African-American governor, Deval Patrick (D-Mass.).

*Blanco is no longer Louisiana’s governor.