Emily's List... did we say it was raucous?

Mackenzie Carpenter| Jan. 18, 2009

Raucous?  Giddy?  Well, mostly the part about U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore, D-Milwaukee, banging her high-heeled shoe on the podium at today's Emily's List luncheon for women Democratic candidates while praising House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as "the lady in satin and steel... General Nancy Pelosi."

 "She's not just stomping out injustice but stomping it out in four inch heels," she roared, while the crowd of 2,000 women roared back.

"I'm talking about someone who has brought back just a little bit of refinement, class and management to the House,... I declare she's earned the Good Housekeeping seal of approval for sweeping out the culture of discrimination against women which has permeated Washington for past 200 years."

Maybe it was just the general party atmosphere that seems to be pervading this city, but the women who addressed the gathering put on by Emily's List -- one of the country's most influential fundraising groups for liberal women candidates -- seemed more in the mood to have fun than to soberly review the gains women have made in recent decades. 

"Ellen has changed the face of American politics.  She's also changed the wardrobe," said an unusually laid-back Secretary of State nominee, Hillary Clinton. "  Every year there are more pantsuits of various kinds" in the House and Senate, she observed.

North Carolina senator Kay Hagan could barely disguise her glee when she reminded the audience that 7 years ago her seat was held by conservative Republican Sen. Jesse Helms, who, she recalled, threw a group of congresswomen out of his hearing room - including Ms. Pelosi - who tried to petition him to hold a hearing for the U.S. ratification of an international treaty of the United Nations to end discrimination against women.

U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-New Hampshire, reminisced about an earlier run for governor of New Hampshire, when she was told by a media consultant to get rid of her pocketbook.

"'Governors don't carry pocketbooks,' they told me.  "Well, after I became governor, my state troopers carried my pocketbook!" she said triumphantly.

North Carolina Gov. Bev Perdue remembered being approached by a supporter who told her, "You don't look nearly as old and fat as you do on television," prompting loud laughter from the audience. "Now you all be kind, that did not deserve THAT much laughter," she added -- to more laughter.