Even without Senate and congressional seats up for grabs, 2011 could turn out to be a landmark election year for Indiana women.
Indianapolis, Fort Wayne and Gary could get their first women mayors in the Nov. 8 elections, breaking a political glass ceiling that has been slow to shatter.
And that makes Paula Hughes a minority within a minority -- the only female Republican candidate of the three. So go out and vote for her so you can feel good about being a progressive ahead of the times. Well, that makes as much sense as voting against someone because she's a woman. Andy Downs at the IPFW Mike Downs Center for Indiana Politics says this is a "sign of the changing times, that voters in Indiana are quite accepting of women as mayoral candidates and as mayors." I'm not sure about that. It shouldn't be so at this late date, but there are plenty of Fort Wayne voters who aren't quite sure about these dang women getting into politics.
Women weren't able to run, then they were, then a few decided to, then a few more, until nobody noticed so much anymore. That's the way trends tend to evolve. The story makes a big deal about only 11 of the state's 119 cities having female mayors and only 31 cities having at least one female candidate. But all things considered, that's not bad.
