Political Grooming Starts Early

• By Alison McSherry
• Roll Call Staff
• Nov. 18, 2009, Midnight

When lobbyist Susannah Wellford Shakow founded the Women Under Forty Political Action Committee in 1999, she expected it to be a successful vehicle for getting women to run for and win political office. While the PAC did help some women get elected — Reps. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) and Mary Bono Mack (R-Calif.) owe some of their success to the organization — Shakow wasn’t seeing the numbers she’d dreamed of.