Talent Gap at the Top

摘要

The November elections brought a GOP wave, but this was not exactly the Year of the Republican Woman. Voters added only two GOP women to the Senate and two to the House. (A third addition hinges on a recount.) And even with those four, the GOP in Congress remains something of a frat house: just 7% of House Republicans are women,compared with 33% of House Democrats. It's a gender imbalance that has some Republicans worried about how they would counter Hillary Clinton's potentially historic run for President in 2016. The most talked-about female candidates on the right, including New Hampshire Senator Kelly Ayotte and New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez, have been discussed only as vice-presidential prospects. Other than Condoleezza Rice, it is difficult to name a single Republican woman on anyone's short list. (And Rice's close ties with a certain GOP dynasty make it unlikely that she would jump in if Jeb Bush runs.) It's a sign of how shallow the female talent pool is that Iowa's Joni Ernst, who was only just elected to the Senate on Nov. 4, is talked about as a possible No. 2.