Wiretap: It’s so not the year of the woman governor

Suffragettes in Long Island, NY, 1912 via TRiver and Flickr https://www.flickr.com/photos/87862342@N00/1149192310/in/photolist-2KxUQw-f3CGUN-7MDvz2-dkryGL-8vwmru-6rpvdX-6rdAk5-4HmFvF-8vwmpQ-dbmzjZ-7j2uVj-6rtLpu-6rpAHV-6rpAjv-6rpAYZ-6rtEkW-6r9pxX-6rtKz9-6rdyRA-6r9Ddc-6rdzb5-6rtKUQ-6r9y8v-6rpvFe-6rtEhA-6rtEdJ-6r9phi-6rtLC9-6r9UmK-6re8Lw-6r9JiM-6rpzYR-6rdXm5-6r9Z4H-6rpANT-6rtKow-6r9EqR-6r9pKc-6r9R7a-6rpAt4-6rtLxm-6rpBax-dbmEtE-e1AYbG-6wzbEU-dBjgzr-4nUS6C-hxxnnQ-dbmFTY-dbmF45

 
[dropcap]F[/dropcap]OR those who thought 2014 would be the year of the woman governor, it’s time to think again. When primary season is over and candidates have been selected in 36 states, no more than nine will be women. It’s an old story. There have been only 35 female governors — and 24 states (Colorado, are you listening?) have never had a woman in charge. According to Politico, even the most optimistic prognosticators see women winning no more than seven seats, which would be only two more than they have today.

Rick Perry has sent the National Guard to the border. Now if only anyone knew what they were actually doing there. Via the Washington Post.

History isn’t over. And neither liberalism nor democracy seems to be on the rise. As Timothy Stanley and Alexander Lee write in the Atlantic, “A new Cold War has broken out. China’s “Marxist capitalism” suggests you can have wealth without freedom. And the advance of ISIS may herald a new, state-oriented Islamic fundamentalism.” What went wrong.

Happy Labor Day (OK, a day late). Are unions dead? Via the New Republic.

Why are Democrats sliming Rand Paul? Via Bloomberg.

Steve Coll writes in the New Yorker that the question is not whether Barack Obama can justify resuming fighting in Iraq, but where it will lead. In search of a strategy.

The New York Times writes that NATO’s response to Russia’s incursion in Ukraine is to build a rapid-response force for Eastern Europe. Where could that lead?

Colorado’s Democratic Senators worry that consolidating U.S. postal offices will hinder mail-in voters from casting their ballots this November. “Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night” can disrupt the democratic process? We’ll see. Via the Pueblo Chieftain.

All volunteer fire departments protect over 70 percent of Colorado’s surface — and they’re severely understaffed. These men and women make an incredibly brave sacrifice, but as a Rocky Mountain PBS I-News analysis shows, the personnel shortage has a predictable effect on fire response time. Via the Durango Herald.
 
[Photo of Suffragettes in Long Island, NY, 1912 via TRiver and Flickr/Creative Commons.]

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