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Women in politics

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Pajamas, Dangling Cords, and Other No-No’s for Virtual Candidates

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“For candidates up and down the ballot, reaching voters requires a vibrant online presence. It shouldn’t be overly produced, nor does it need to be perfect. But it should reflect who you are and why you’re ready to serve. I’ve been coaching women candidates for twenty years and here are my six top points on how to present your best virtual self.”

Keep reading here.

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore from Surprise, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Sarah Palin

How can the women on the debate stage stand out?

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“These six women onstage are evidence of tremendous progress on the Democratic side of the aisle. Someone such as myself who’s been doing this for so long, we’ve been building the bench for over 20 years, and we have it now. We actually have a bench.”

Keep reading here.

Photo Credit: Bruce Tuten from Savannah, Georgia, United States, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Elizabeth Warren

Want to get noticed as a female candidate on the Democratic debate stage? Interrupt a man.

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“If I was coaching any of the six women, I would be thinking strategically about how these women can assert themselves very proactively, but forcefully. I think that’s going to be key, how to draw attention to yourself in a crowded field of 10, but really 20, candidates and be assertive.”

Keep reading here.

Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

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Is she likable enough? We’re still asking that?

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It came as no surprise to Christine Jahnke that the chattering classes would instantly cast doubt on whether Elizabeth Warren is “likable enough” to be elected president in 2020.

What was new to Jahnke, a D.C.-based speech coach who trains female politicians, was the backlash: a collective howl raised by voters and political analysts who resisted the premise that the next promising female candidate for president could be critiqued and dismissed in precisely the same manner as the last one. Within hours, Warren’s exploratory committee seized on a swipe perceived as sexist to raise money for a possible presidential campaign.

“Two years ago or three years ago, would that have happened? No,” said Jahnke. “Because that was very typical news coverage. It’s like the key hurdle that all women candidates have to jump over.”

Keep reading here.

Photo Credit: ElizabethForMA, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

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For Female Political Candidates, Sometimes the Biggest Threat Isn’t Losing an Election

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Christine Jahnke, a political communication expert who has advised former First Lady Michelle Obama and Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, has seen some head-spinning stuff while working with Democrats and progressive groups. The author of The Well-Spoken Woman, Jahnke recalls an incident in Indiana, where a candidate she advised arrived to campaign at a veterans’ hall and “some old guy comes up to her, looks her in the eye, and says, ‘Are you the stripper?'”

The best thing a woman can do, according to Jahnke, is have a coolheaded, practiced response ready to go when someone does take that cheap shot: “What you don’t want to do [is] lash out in a way that will be perceived as ‘angry’ or out of control,” she said—and that’s not always easy, because attacks rooted in gender can be distracting and distressing.

Read the full story here.

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

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Forget Suits. Show the Tattoo. Female Candidates Are Breaking the Rules.

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“These different women who are running, and the way they’re running, is going to change politics forever,” said Christine K. Jahnke, a longtime consultant to Democratic women. “They’re rewriting the playbook. But we don’t know exactly what the new playbook will look like.” Read the full story here.

See Chris’ New York Times Quotation of the Day from this article.

Photo Credit: nrkbeta, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

NYT quote of the day

New York Times: Quotation of the Day

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“These different women who are running, and the way they’re running, is going to change politics forever,” said Christine K. Jahnke, a longtime consultant to Democratic women. “They’re rewriting the playbook. But we don’t know exactly what the new playbook will look like.”

See the quotation of the day here.

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It’s 2018, and Female Candidates Are Tweeting About Lipstick. Is This Progress?

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So it’s remarkable that here we are eight years later, and there’s a candidate—a young progressive candidate, no less—who’s not only fielding questions about her appearance but doing so voluntarily, with the enthusiasm of a genuine beauty junkie.

“I’ve never seen anything like it before,” says Chris Jahnke, a Washington, D.C.-based speech coach who was a consultant on Clinton’s 2008 campaign and has worked with Michelle Obama. “It goes against the conventional wisdom of how women candidates should act.” Read the full story here.

Photo Credit: nrkbeta, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

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