Text size:

'Madame President' campaign focuses on Hillary

BY GLENN THRUSH | Newsday Washington Bureau

July 25, 2006

WASHINGTON - A little girl, no older than 10, was coveting Mosemarie Boyd's stack of bright red "Madame President" placards on the sidewalk outside Little Rock's First United Methodist Church.

The California native, "Mosie" to her friends, was willing to part with a sign on one condition: "When Hillary walks out of the church, get between her and the cameras - and hold it high."

When Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton emerged from her hometown church July 16, about two dozen other fans began shaking their signs and hooting "Hill-a-ry!" The senator squinted and smiled a puzzled little smile.

"I don't know what to think," said Clinton, who refused to sign any of the placards during her two-day homecoming tour, for fear of endorsing her own undeclared presidential run. "I don't know where they're coming from. They seem to be stalking me."

The signs (and bumper stickers), which read "Madame President, Jan. 20, 2009," are the brainchild of Boyd, 37, who founded the American Women Presidents political action committee in 2000 to elect a woman to the White House. The print job, rushed for Clinton's 48-hour visit, cost the group $993.

Her first choice is Hillary Clinton. If that doesn't fly, she'll take Condoleezza Rice. In 2004, Boyd's group endorsed Sens. Elizabeth Dole (R-N.C.) and Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) for their parties' vice-presidential nominations.

"My cousin tells me that I was talking about women and the presidency when I was 8," said Boyd, who moved to the Arkansas capital last year. "I'm dedicating myself to working on this for the rest of my life until this happens."

The singularity of that goal is offset by the restlessness of her resume. Boyd attended Brown, earned her master's from the highly regarded School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University, worked for Feinstein and California governor Gray Davis, and served as an analyst for the World Bank. She's even been a substitute teacher.

Boyd challenged Davis in the 2002 Democratic primary, drawing 4 percent of the vote.

Two years later, she moved from Sacramento to Little Rock to attend law school after she stopped by the opening of the Clinton presidential library in 2004 and "fell in love with the city."

Around that time, she contributed $1,500 to Clinton's HILLPAC, earning a trip to the Clintons' Washington mansion and a brief chat with the senator.

But Clinton betrayed no glint of recognition at the church, which didn't bother Boyd at all. Neither did the senator's stalker crack.

"I liked it," said Boyd. "Made my day."