United States of America

There’s something I need to get off my chest. It’s been weighing on me, and I want to come clean before the next election cycle: I didn’t vote for Hillary Clinton in the 2008 primary. That fact is only controversial because I’m a women’s advocate by trade, and there are certain feminist circles in which anything less than full-throated Hillary support is tantamount to heresy.

What, I wonder, explains the gender gap in political corruption?

Women make up almost 20 percent of the current Congress, according to the Center for American Women and Politics, but they don’t come anywhere near that proportion when we are talking about scandals on Capitol Hill.

Will it take breaking news of a female lawmaker doing something truly stupid like former Rep. Anthony Weiner’s tweeting self-portraits of his private parts to strangers to know we are beginning to achieve gender equality?

We are so fortunate to have been able to interview Betsy Hodges, who is currently running for Mayor of Minneapolis. She's been the representation for Ward 13 on the Minneapolis City Council for seven years, during which time she has chaired the Intergovernmental Relations Committee and the Ways & Means Committee. The mayoral race is coming to a close (get out and vote November 5th if you live in Minneapolis!), so we're thankful that Ms. Hodges took the time to answer some of our questions about her political career.

Hillary Clinton's near-tear on the eve of the 2008 New Hampshire primary was a political game-changer.

"I couldn't do it if I didn't just passionately believe it was the right thing to do," Clinton told a local resident. "I have so many opportunities from this country and I just don't want to see us fall backwards as a nation. This is very personal for me."

Senator Patty Murray, D-Wash., once said her experience as a preschool teacher was excellent training for Congress.

As many on Capitol Hill are mugging for the press pool, proud of their political brinkmanship, a small group of female senators (Republicans Susan Collins, Kelly Ayotte and Lisa Murkowski, and Democrats Amy Klobuchar, Heidi Heitkamp, and Jeanne Shaheen) stands to the side, immune to the "me, me, me" fest.