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Geraldine Ferraro, Sarah Palin: a woman's impact

Rita Ciolli | Rita Ciolli is editor of the editorial pages.

October 1, 2008

By the time vice-presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro took the stage at Philadelphia's Civic Center 24 years ago for the very first debate featuring a woman on a national ticket, weeks of punishing media coverage about her finances had already turned any advantage gained by the novelty of her selection into a political liability.

Tomorrow in St. Louis, Sarah Palin, the second woman on a major party's presidential ticket, is in the same predicament, as the surprise and star power that initially lifted Sen. John McCain's campaign has stalled.

Ferraro held her ground that night against George H.W. Bush, a spectacle Newsweek described as, "Shoot-Out at Gender Gap." While anything resembling a shoot-out on Thursday, as opposed to a more deliberative exchange, might favor this Alaskan governor-with-a-gun, the outcome of her debate, like Ferraro's, may ultimately result in the same plot line: Symbols aren't worth the investment.

Ferraro, a three-term Democratic member of Congress from Queens and Palin, a two-year Republican governor of Alaska, were chosen for much the same reasons. Both had strong personalities and political instincts. Neither was the most qualified woman available in their party. Both were "Hail Mary" passes made by campaigns that needed a game-changing play. Both were picked to appeal to blue-collar, ethnic voters and disaffected - yes, still disaffected - women.

In 1984, Republican incumbent Ronald Reagan was leading his challenger, Sen. Walter Mondale, by 15 points in the polls. Mondale, trying to unify his party after a bruising Democratic primary with Gary Hart, was under pressure from his party's feminist base to select a woman for the ticket.

McCain, also down in the August polls, needed a bold stroke, as well as someone to inspire the "conservative values" base in his party. Palin, like Ferarro before her, delivered immediate results.

As a reporter in Newsday's Washington bureau at the time, I travelled on the first few campaign swings of the new-look Mondale-Ferarro ticket. The crowds were huge and adoring. Women cried as they held their daughters in the air to witness the historic moment.

But it soon got ugly for her. Reports surfaced about irregularities in her tax returns. Instead of being on the campaign plane, I was in the basement of the Queens courthouse scrutinizing her husband, John Zaccaro's role in handling the guardianship of an elderly woman. New York was ablaze in a tabloid war and Gerry was our hometown pol. All the documents, the real estate holdings and eager sources were here in the media capital. Anyone who had once stood in the communion line with Ferraro at Our Lady of Mercy in Forest Hills had something to say.

The frenzy resulted in a brutal two-hour press conference at Kennedy Airport in which Ferraro, standing alone, was questioned by 200 reporters about her financial dealings and her family. The three major networks broke into their daytime programming to cover it live.

When the headlines about taxes ebbed, the smears about her Italian-American heritage began. Then and now, the coverage is not about elites and liberals persecuting their targets but about how all media, especially now at Internet speed, field dress their prey.

Twenty-four years ago, Ferraro's candidacy was seen as the first step for a woman to reach the White House. The predictions in the press section as we waited for the historic debate to start were that it could happen in eight years - but certainly before the end of the 20th century. There has been some progress. When Ferraro ran, only one woman held a governorship and just two women were in the Senate. Now, eight governors and 16 senators are women.

And Sen. Hillary Clinton's bid to be the nominee of the Democratic Party erased doubts that the nation would be uneasy with a woman as commander-in-chief.

Palin's debate tomorrow with Sen. Joe Biden will initially be scored on her ability to recover from her unfocused responses in recent televised interviews. Does an unsatisfactory Palin performance irreparably wound the campaign? Would a good one dramatically boost it?

Or, in the end, will she, like Ferraro, make little difference in the outcome of the election, as the selection comes down to which man would be the better president?