The Hillary Effect: Politics, Sexism and the Destiny of Loss

Spanning nearly two decades of American politics, The Hillary Effect is the provocative and insightful story of the first viable female presidential candidate in history to win a primary and do so in spite of her campaign team's mistakes. It addresses the galvanizing impact that her loss represented for both women and men, in and out of Washington. And it revolves around media coverage that treated her differently as first lady, senator, and then presidential candidate-not only because she was a woman, but because she was Hillary Clinton. Candidly written by veteran political analyst Taylor Marsh, this is the view from a recovering partisan, someone whom the Washington Post called a "die hard Clintonite" in its profile of Hillary in 2008. The Hillary Effect began when Hillary, as first lady, dared to challenge China's treatment of women. A countless number of women have benefited and will benefit from her presidential loss, the most famous of these being Sarah Palin (the Tea Party queen of 2010 and first female on a national Republican presidential ticket), who weaves throughout this story as the anti-Hillary. The Hillary Effect also sees Michele Bachmann as a player, as the first Republican female to win a straw poll, primary, or caucus. The male leads in this stunning tale are Bill Clinton and President Barack Obama (someone who turned out to be very different from candidate Obama), with David Plouffe and Mark Penn making appearances. The story includes a host of media personalities and their outlets, but also new-media and progressive voices, and famous names like Chris Matthews, Keith Olbermann, Sally Quinn, the late Tim Russert, Richard Wolffe, Laura Ingraham, Liz Cheney, Peggy Noonan, Maureen Dowd, Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, and even Bill O'Reilly, who offered Hillary the best interview she would do during the 2008 season. All of this is seen through the economic and political crises of today-health care, women's individual freedoms, Afghanistan, women's rise around the world, the debt-ceiling debate, tax cuts for the wealthy, Occupy Wall Street, and an American public disenchanted with both Republicans and Democrats. Taylor Marsh is best known for being a "die hard Clintonite," as the Washington Post described her in a 2008 profile, "For Clinton, a Following of 'Marshans.' " The New Republicprofile of Clinton in 2008, "The Hugh Hefner of Politics," chronicles Marsh from her artistic career into politics. A contributor to the Huffington Post, as well as other sites, Marsh's blog (www.taylormarsh.com) was on the front lines during the 2008 election season. Marsh grew up in St. Louis, Missouri, where she was Miss Teenage St. Louis and was crowned Miss Missouri. She attended Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri, where she was born, graduating with a BFA. Next stop was Broadway, where Jerry Herman cast her after her very first audition. Marsh has produced her own one-woman show on JFK and her life growing up in the midst of the feminist revolution, and has done national television commercials. In the early 1990s, Marsh worked at the alternative news source LA Weekly in the personal ad department as "relationship consultant," with her column "What Do You Want?" dispensing relationship advice mixed with a little politics. In 1997, she jumped to become managing editor of one of the first outlets online to make money, a softcore site covered on the front page of the Wall Street Journal, U.S. News & World Report, and USA Today. Marsh took her long-established new-media career to blogging during the Kerry campaign of 2004. But it was the 2008 election and Marsh's fearless coverage of the campaign that catapulted her. Marsh has been interviewed by the BBC, CNN, MSNBC, C-SPAN's Washington Journal, Al Jazeera Arabic, and Al Jazeera English, among others, including radio from coast to coast. Marsh has been featured in the The Hill, the Washington Scene, National Journal's Hotline On Call, th