Hillary

Voting for the first time, 19-year-old Erika Bowman was beaming as she walked out of the voting booth at Glen Burnie Park Elementary. Her presidential pick was Sen. Barack Obama, but the months-long election cycle instilled in her a larger sense of promise. Women candidates played big roles in the presidential race this year, as Sen. Hillary Clinton narrowly missed out on the Democratic Party's nomination and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin became the first female to appear on the Republican ticket.

PHILADELPHIA - If Sen. John McCain defies the polls and wins Pennsylvania, it will be in part because of voters like Harry Klemash, 67, a Democrat who supported Sen. Hillary Clinton in the primary and is still not comfortable with Sen. Barack Obama. "Obama has too many socialist policies, and he doesn't have enough experience," Klemash, a retired pressman, said yesterday as he walked his miniature poodle in Marconi Park in South Philadelphia, a largely white, Catholic, ethnic neighborhood.

In her column "In this election, putting gender first" (Commentary, Sept. 14), Lynette Long asserts that "gender trumps everything else." This is a dangerous assertion as our country is preparing to secure leadership for the 21st century. The people of this country are facing too many important issues to choose a candidate based on who this person is rather than what this person's policies represent. And I dare say that the little girl whom the author claims will have her self-perception altered by having a female vice president will be affected more if her parents lose their home in a foreclosure or if her sister is forced to continue an unplanned pregnancy.

The first and only time I went to the national political conventions was in 1996 - first to San Diego for the GOP conclave, at which the elderly U.S. senator from Kansas, Bob Dole, was nominated to run against President Bill Clinton in his re-election bid. I remember that Mr. Dole was such a boring old politician that the Republicans were thrilled that he selected Jack Kemp, the former Buffalo Bills quarterback and proponent of "supply-side" economics, as...

The past couple of years have left some tarnish on one of Maryland's once-sparkling political leaders. Martin O'Malley arrived at the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston with the swagger of one of the party's young stars, granted a prime speaking spot even though he had backed Howard Dean over nominee John Kerry. Four years later, things have changed. O'Malley is a governor, not a mayor, after becoming the only challenger in the nation to defeat an incumbent governor in 2006.

DENVER - Hillary Clinton, accepting defeat with grace and benevolence, moved to close the divide among fellow Democrats last night by offering a forceful and unequivocal endorsement of her sometimes bitter rival, Barack Obama. "Barack Obama is my candidate," she said to a thunderous roar from Democratic convention delegates, whose allegiance split nearly evenly during a long and contentious primary season. "And he must be our president." In a speech anticipated for weeks, ever since her historic bid for the White House fell painfully short, Clinton urged her supporters to value party over pettiness and join her in making the Illinois senator's cause their own. "Whether you voted for me, or voted for Barack, the time is now to unite as a single party with a single purpose," she said, as delegates waved signs reading "Hillary" on one side and "Unity" on the other.

DENVER - Hillary Clinton's staunchest Maryland supporters are saying the right things as the Democratic Party prepares to nominate Barack Obama this week, trumpeting party unity and a chance to make history. But an aftertaste of regret lingers behind their words, raising questions about how hard Clinton backers will work during the next 70 days to see their primary rival elected. "I never thought when I graduated from college in 1965 that I would end my life without seeing a woman president," said Maryland state Treasurer Nancy K. Kopp, a Clinton superdelegate.

For months now, people have been saying to me, "Do you really think they're gone?" "Is it finally over?" "Is the coast clear?" The questions have been in response to Sen. Barack Obama's supposedly yeoman service in putting an end to the Clintons in public life. My response to those who believe our long national nightmare is over has always been: "Have you seen no monster movies?" Freddy Krueger always comes back. Jason re-emerges from the pond one more time. Dracula had so many comebacks that nobody was surprised to see him hanging with Abbott and Costello.

The National Organization for Women convenes its annual conference this weekend in Bethesda against the backdrop of a presidential race that, according to NOW President Kim Gandy, has been underlined not only by one woman's historic campaign but also by an extraordinary amount of sexism. Gandy, who's serving her second term at the helm of the feminist advocacy group, talked with The Sun about those and other topics. She lives in Silver Spring with her husband and two daughters. Your theme for this weekend's conference is "No Capes, No Masks, No Boundaries: Feminist Super-Women Unite!"

BOSTON - So is the glass half-full or half-empty? Or to pick a better metaphor, is the "highest, hardest" glass ceiling now half-shattered by the 18 million cracks, or does it look as impermeable as ever after this unsuccessful battering? This has not been an easy week for ardent Hillary Clinton supporters who are being told to move on and move over to the Barack Obama camp. The woman who looked improbably energetic and strong as she bowed out last Saturday reinforced both the respect and disappointment of her core supporters.