Bloomsbury In It to Win: Electing Madam President

When will the United States elect its first woman president? Many political observers believed that Hillary Clinton would win the White House in 2008, and many still believe she is a strong contender for 2016. Yet, while many believe that electing the first woman president is not a question of if, but who and when, media speculation on the topic has yet to move it from an interesting talking point to political reality. The question remains: Just how close are we to breaking this final political glass ceiling? By merging the two literatures of women and politics (especially women as candidates) and presidential campaigns and elections, a winning strategy for women candidates can emerge by analyzing what political science research tells us from past campaigns and what we can expect in the future. Review "With the elevation of female candidates such as Hillary Clinton, Michelle Bachman, and Sarah Palin in recent presidential elections, the field has been primed for a definitive and systematic study of the possibility of electing the first woman as President of the United States. In In It to Win: Electing Madam President, Lori Cox Han provides that study as she links social science research and recent political developments in analyses that cover the scope of the electoral process, from the cash-driven early days of the invisible primary to the culmination of the general election. Thanks to the excellent work in In It to Win, those in the conversation about when we might elect our first female president finally have something definitive to work from." --Justin S. Vaughn, Assistant Professor, Boise State University, USA "With In It to Win: Electing Madam President, Lori Cox Han has broken new ground in assessing the likelihood of a female candidate winning the White House. Anyone interested in this topic cannot afford to ignore the important insights on women in American politics presented in this book." -- Brian Frederick, Associate Professor, Bridgewater State University, USA " In It To Win impressively merges our understanding of barriers from the women and politics literature with what we know about winning presidential campaigns to provide a comprehensive analysis of a provocative question-can a woman win the presidency? Lori Cox Han's work is accessible, timely and effectively sets the stage for understanding the 2016 presidential race." -- Diane J. Heith, Professor, St. John's University, USA "Thoroughly researched, engaging and even optimistic. Cox Han's accessible examination of whether or not a woman can win the Presidency speaks to a wide audience-those interested in the Presidency, gender and politics and elections-and fully explores how a woman can win a seat in the Oval Office." -- Ronnee Schreiber, Professor, Department of Political Science, San Diego State University, USA "This engaging book provides cautious optimism for the prospect that a woman can be elected president ... Han ably summarizes the scholarly literature addressing female candidates' prospects ... she examines the candidacies of recent female presidential candidates--Elizabeth Dole, Hillary Clinton, Michele Bachmann, and Carol Moseley Braun--in the presidential selection process ... The advent of a female president, she concludes, depends primarily on the right candidate with the right strategy at the right time. The fate of Hillary Clinton's 2016 quest supposedly hinges on those factors. Summing Up: Recommended. All readership levels." --S. E. Schier, Carleton College, CHOICE About the Author Lori Cox Han is Professor of Political Science at Chapman University. She is the author of several books, including Presidents and the American Presidency; A Presidency Upstaged: The Public Leadership of George H.W. Bush; Women and U.S. Politics: The Spectrum of Leadership, 2nd ed.; and Governing From Center Stage: White House Communication Strategies During the Television Age of Politics. She is also editor