October 20, 2005 - Condoleezza Rice and Senator Hillary Clinton are rumored to be potential candidates for the Presidential race in '08. So could it happen? Is the U.S. ready for its first female president, and are Iowans ready to pass one through the political pipeline?

She already exists on television. On ABC's Commander in Chief, Gina Davis plays the first woman president, but is the United States ready for what they see on television to become reality? There is a lot of buzz surrounding both parties and the possibility of women appearing on both tickets in 2008. For Democrats, it's New York Senator Hillary Clinton, and for the Republicans, it's Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice. Here in Iowa, there's even a commercial running trying to convince Rice to run.

Roxanne Conlin says she knows that first hand. She ran for governor of Iowa 25 years ago. Conlin says she faced sexism every single day of her campaign. "Not about policy, but about what to wear, my hair, it was too curly or too straight, too blonde or too red," says Conlin.

Charlotte Nelson heads up the Iowa Commission on the Status of Women. Says she's seen women in Iowa take big steps in the right directions. Iowans have already elected three women to Lieutenant Governors, 3 women Secretary of State, and one woman Attorney General and one woman Secretary of Agriculture. On the other hand, Iowa has never had a woman governor. And Iowans have never voted a women to congress.

At the state level, women hold only 20 percent of the seats in the Senate and House. "There is still that perception that a woman's place is not in that kind of visible leadership role," said Charlotte Nelson. This is not the case in other western nations. Margaret Thatcher was Great Britain's first female Prime Minister. She held office from 1979 to 1990. And now Germany is poised to name it's first ever female Chancellor, Angela Merkel. "It seems so inconsistent with our values that we still judge on race, creed, color, and sex. But we do," said Conlin.

Nationally the issue is getting a lot of attention. This week's cover of Newsweek reads Women who Lead. And NBC did a special series on women in leadership roles.

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