Now This Is Woman’s Work | Newsweek Women and Leadership

MEMO TO THE GOP
A Way Out of the Wilderness
Karl Rove 11/15/2008 12:00:00 AM
Yes, we lost the election. But in a year when all currents were running against Republicans and our campaign was lackluster and erratic, Barack Obama received only 3.1 points more than Al Gore in 2000 and only 4.6 points more than John Kerry in 2004. The Democratic victory becomes durable only if Republicans make it so with the wrong moves.
CHAPTER 5
Center Stage
Evan Thomas 11/6/2008 12:00:00 AM
In midsummer, the Obama campaign's computers were attacked by a virus. The campaign's tech experts spotted it and took standard precautions, such as putting in a firewall. At first, the campaign figured it was a routine "phishing" attack, using common methods. Or so it seemed. In fact, the campaign had been the target of sophisticated foreign cyber-espionage.
CAMPAIGN 2008
A Titan in Trouble
Tony Hopfinger 10/28/2008 12:00:00 AM
Ted Stevens assumed his U.S. Senate seat in 1968—the same year the North Vietnamese Army launched the Tet Offensive, the Beatles recorded "Revolution", and Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. were assassinated. It was also the year when Alaska was discovered to be sitting atop the largest oil fields in North America. A crude relationship was born between Alaska's politicians and its economic lifeblood—one that helped keep Stevens in office for 40 years, and could now end the career of the longest-serving Senate Republican in history.
ENERGY
Will Congress Finally Pass an Energy Bill?
Daniel Stone 9/15/2008 12:00:00 AM
The House Democratic leadership has shifted over the past couple months on the issue of offshore drilling. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi left the issue untouched for much of the summer, even telling fellow Democrats that, during the congressional recess in August, they could blame her when confronted by frustrated constituents about high fuel costs. Now, with just two weeks left in the legislative session and renewed pressure from colleagues across the aisle, House Democrats are expected this week to introduce and debate a new energy bill. Pelosi and other leaders have called it a compromise, promising that it will include provisions for limited drilling no less than 50 miles offshore as well as incentives for alternative-energy development.
CAMPAIGN 2008
An Apostle of Alaska
9/6/2008 12:00:00 AM
John McCain was not her dream pick. Only a year ago, when the Republican primaries were just beginning, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin told NEWSWEEK that she wasn't enthusiastic about anyone in the GOP field. McCain was languishing at 7 percent in the polls. Mike Huckabee was reduced to playing his electric bass to get attention. Palin, driving with a NEWSWEEK reporter along the highway from Anchorage to Wasilla, said she could understand why the country was enthralled by the race between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. "When you talk about the Republican Party needing appealing candidates, darn right they do!" she said. "The Democrats, whether you like them or not … there is some dynamic there, and it's something that the Republicans I think have lacked for some time."
THE REPUBLICANS
Palin in the Green Room
Karen Breslau 8/29/2008 12:00:00 AM
When Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin arrived backstage for our NEWSWEEK Women & Leadership Event in Los Angeles last March, John McCain had just wrapped up the GOP nomination. Palin had yet to endorse McCain—she liked Mitt Romney—and as we waited in the green room, I urged her to "feel free" to make some news on stage. She grinned broadly—looking back, I guess it was a grin of the Cheshire Cat variety—and thanked me for the offer.