WASHINGTON - While Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend fell short in her bid to become Maryland's first woman governor last night, women gubernatorial candidates all over the country were engaged in neck-and-neck races, holding out the prospect they could take up residency in governors mansions in record numbers.
In a departure from past years when most women candidates for governor were long shots - no more than three women have ever been elected governor in a single year - women were thought to have a chance to win in all of the nine races in which they ran and were favored in three.
In Michigan, a large and politically influential state, Democratic Attorney General Jennifer Granholm defeated Republican Lt. Gov. Dick Posthumus in the race to succeed Gov. John Engler, who has been in office for 12 years. She will become the first woman to govern that state.
"This is a crucial presidential state." says Marie C. Wilson, president of the White House Project, a nonpartisan group that works to promote women in leadership positions. "Having a woman in that kind of place is truly wonderful."
In Kansas, Democratic state Insurance Commissioner Kathleen Sibelius won over Republican state Treasurer Tim Shallenburger, who came from the conservative wing of the party. Sibelius will be the first Democrat to win an open governor's seat in Kansas since 1936.
Hawaii was assured of getting its first female governor in the nation's second gubernatorial race in which both major party candidates were women. (The first was in Nebraska in 1986.) In Hawaii, Republican Maui Mayor Linda Lingle, the only Republican among this year's 10 female gubernatorial candidates, was leading Democratic Lt. Gov. Mazie Hirono.
Currently, there are five female governors - the most to serve at any time. Three of the current women governors are either retiring or have sought another office.
Last night's election could have resulted in anywhere from four to nine women governors.
Although women are no strangers to the halls of Congress - holding steady after substantial increases during the past quarter-century and the so- called "Year of the Woman' in 1992 when the number of women in Congress jumped from 28 to 42 - they've had a harder time making their way to governors" mansions.
Only 12 women have been elected governors in their own right, reflecting, at least in part, an electorate that has been skeptical about women as tough, decisive, fiscally attuned chief executives.
Twice before, in 1994 and in 1998, there have been 10 women gubernatorial candidates, as there were this year. But in both years, the female candidates fared poorly. None of the mostly Democratic group won in 1994, the year of the "Republican revolution." Only two women won in 1998, both of them incumbents in a year when the economy rallied toward the end of the year in time for Election Day.
In contrast, several factors worked to the advantage of this year's roster of women candidates, say political observers, such as a large number of open seats (only in Arkansas was the race against an incumbent), souring state economies favoring candidates who offer change - and, perhaps most of all, the experience of the women candidates.
"What you have are women who are prepared to run seizing the opportunity." says Debbie Walsh, director of the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University. "As a group, this is probably the strongest group of women we"ve seen running for governor."
Eight of the 10 women who ran had held statewide office as lieutenant governors, attorney generals, state treasurers or state insurance commissioner.
"The pipeline has matured." says Wilson of the White House Project. "These women came from positions where they could demonstrate economic prowess and toughness, areas where voters still have small reservations about women."
Granholm's position as attorney general, combined with her tough-on-crime campaign and appeal on the campaign trail, helped her combat such biases and take on not only Posthumus but two well-known Democrats in a highly competitive primary, Walsh says.
In Alaska, Lt. Gov. Fran Ulmer sought to demonstrate her toughness in another way. She boasted of owning eight firearms and bought a new handgun to take on the campaign trail.
On the other hand, political strategists say, women candidates still have to strike a balance between toughness and compassion because they don't want to squander the natural advantage they have from being seen by voters as caring.
And they are still dogged by gender-related issues, scrutinized for their appearance and, if they have young children, their ability to juggle their job with parenting. "It's always sitting there." Wilson says of such gender issues.
In Rhode Island, Democratic businesswoman and former state Sen. Myrth York lost in her third stab at the governorship, this time to first-time GOP candidate Don Carcieri.
Arizona's Democratic attorney general Janet Napolitano was locked in a close race against former Congressman Matt Salmon, trying to lure moderate Republicans.
In Massachusetts, popular state Treasurer Shannon O"Brien lost a close match with Republican Mitt Romney, a business executive who gained national recognition as head of the Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City.