But this year, to promote the conference many of us were asked to participate in podcasts to give people a little taste about the panels and where attendees could also learn a little bit about the speakers. So it was fun to be on one the of Spreecasts with some of the other panelists, as well as Nolan Treadway from Netroots. And, of course, with technology today, I can share the podcast with you here!  Enjoy!

And if you get to the conference, stop by and say hello!

The first woman elected to the White House will answer to many names — Madam President, ma’am, and, most likely, Mom. That’s something I like to think about on Mother’s Day.

Given the demographics and family status of many of the women in politics today, there’s a pretty good chance that the first female who gets to sit behind the historic Resolute Desk in the Oval Office will be a mother of young children.

Think that’s crazy? Read the rest of my most recent op-ed piece at CNN entitled, “Coming soon: A young mother in the Oval Office?”

And if you want to read more about moms getting into the political arena, I’ll contribute a portion of the sales of my book Mothers of Intention: How Women and Social Media are Revolutionizing Politics in America (Bright Sky Press), if you purchase before midnight on Mother’s Day!

Image by Joanne Bamberger. All rights reserved.

Artwork by a very young PunditGirl

After all the hub-bub and faux hand-wringing by many Republicans and the Mitt Romney team about Romney’s wife Ann supposedly being the target of political “mommy wars,” the Romney campaign has apparently decided they can’t let this Mother’s Day go by without making some more hay.

It’s easy in the fast-paced world of politics and attack ads to harp on a topic that seems to have struck such a primal chord. But Romney’s people may have a rude awakening with their new ad:

Wishing America’s women a Happy Mother’s Day by reminding them of this episode and putting Ann on that motherhood pedestal — five boys, cancer, multiple sclerosis and then being attacked for “never working.” I hate to break it to the GOP, but reminding Americans of the comments of a DNC adviser and a comedian aren’t going to resonate as families across the country buy moms flowers and take them out for dinner and, hopefully, letting them skip one day of laundry duty.

There have been plenty of Republican attacks on First Lady Michelle Obama. And you can be sure if the President’s re-election team put out a Mother’s Day ad highlighting all the times conservatives have gone on the attack against Michelle, there would be a major outcry, especially from FOX News, the leader in making moms the biggest political issue of the 2012 campaign.

It was OK to attack Michelle Obama for designer sneakers and make up stories about lingerie shopping sprees, but politically unacceptable raise the same question if it’s Ann Romney’s $1,000 T-shirt?

It’s fine for multimillionaire Ann Romney to advise her husband on the economy, but Michelle Obama is smeared for talking about nutrition.

Republicans get a pass for mocking the First Lady’s physical appearance.  I can only begin to imagine the collective uproar if any Democrat fired back over anything like Ann Romney’s hairstyle or body shape.

I’m sure the Republicans believe this is a winner for them on Mother’s Day, but they’re treading on thin ice with this Ann Romney as martyr theme. They forget that people tire of these distractions, especially when it’s about candidates’ spouses.  They’re not the one’s we’re electing, so maybe they should save their campaign dollars and leave these two high profile moms out of it on Mother’s Day.

My longer, more thoughtful take on the President’s “evolution” on same sex marriage is over at iVillage iVote, where I’m trying to keep up with my duties as 2012 Election Editor!

Image via Wikimedia Commons/U.S. State Dept.

I’m glad the Republicans have nothing better to do than trying to make fun of Hillary Clinton’s appearance — AGAIN!! She’s the Secretary of State for goodness sake and she’s traveling more often than she’s in Washington to try to keep the world from falling apart.

If this is the GOP strategy to keep her from running for President in 2016, they’d better come up with something else. Because there are plenty of “women of a certain age” (like me!) who think lip gloss and Tina Fey glasses count as full make-up.  You can read the rest of my take on this political silliness at iVillage iVote, where I’m working as 2012 Election Editor and Correspondent!

I’ve been lucky that so far (knock wood) we’ve never had a situation that required us to take our daughter for an ER visit.  But so many families have to every day. But what if your local hospital doesn’t have a pediatric specialist on staff in their ER? Medical issues aren’t the same for adults and kids, and that means if your child is seeing a doctor in the emergency room who isn’t up on current pediatric issues, your child might not get crucial care they need.

I was sorry I wasn’t able to get to New York City to be part of the taping of this great public service announcement, but I am honored to be supporting the effort as a member of the Parent Board for the R Baby Foundation Gala being held to raise money to support improvements in pediatric emergency room care across the country and to reduce the rate of infant mortality in the U.S.

The R Baby Foundation is a not-for-profit foundation focused on saving babies’ lives through improving pediatric emergency care. Ninety percent of  emergency rooms around the country don’t have attending emergency room pediatricians or proper size equipment for babies, but the R Baby Foundation is working to change that through grants to a variety of hospitals to implement pediatric ER treatment standards, equip emergency rooms with the correct sized tools and to generally make ER’s safer places for babies.

So what can you do to help that mission?

1. Sign this petition to implement standards across the nation. And share it!  It takes 1 minute to sign!
2. Join me at the R Baby 5 Star Gala in New York City on May 9th for an incredible evening of food and wine and saving babies lives!
3. Share your stories at RBabyFoundation.org
4. Make a Donation.  90% of funds go directly to programs and initiatives – not administration

You can friend RBaby on Facebook,

I’ve never been a huge Kate Beckinsale fan, except for the movie Serendipity, but that was more because of my love for John Cusack (yes, I’m looking at you, Bossy!)  But I am totally rethinking that stand after this political statement!

And just when you think its safe to go back into the bookstores — VOILA! — a new tome on how women are doing things all wrong, conveniently penned by a woman, of course, so the whole sister-hate thing can be milked some more.

Just as we’re coming off the latest round of politically-motivated mom wars thanks to Democratic adviser Hilary Rosen and Mitt Romney’s wife, Ann, it looks like we’re going to have this pretend debate all over again just in time for Mother’s Day with the release of The Conflict: How Modern Motherhood Undermines the Status of Women – a book by a female French scholar who believes that American moms are totally into being martyrs for their children (not like those smart French moms!) and that all our problems would be solved if we stepped away from breastfeeding and all other things that come anywhere close to what some call attachment parenting.

While I haven’t gotten the book yet, (I’m still waiting for that review copy) I have read many of the reports that have been all over the Internet, including one this week at The New York Times as part of its  “Room for Debate” series, in which several women were polled and asked to write about whether this current thinking about motherhood will mean the death of feminism.

Again, I say — sales, people. There is only one reason we’re even talking about this. Readers. Eyeballs.  That is ALL this pretend “conflict” is and, sadly, I’m sure it will all help promote sales of this latest book that have many women beating themselves up over their choices and their lives. Remember that whole “opt out” conversation that made some good money for a few writers? It turns out that, once the actual scholars and data people looked at things, it was all just smoke and mirrors to sell books and newspapers. Yes, there was a day a few decades ago when women engaged in the stay-at-home vs working mom judgment game. But these days, I think I’m safe in saying that most of the people I know are past that.  There’s not enough energy to be spent judging what other women are doing. I have a hard enough time staying on top of work and family commitments; I don’t have time to mess with anyone else’s head.

Few, if any, in the media are paying any attention to the real issue — how can we best support all families.  Not just women, but all families.  And that includes families of all colors, shapes and sizes. It would take too much effort to drill down into the policies (or lack thereof) that keep many women and families in a state of never having any real choices — the ones who have to work to put food on the table, even if it’s a two-income family. The fact that anyone has time to have this mommy war conversation says two things — you have too much time on your hands and you’re not paying attention to the families who can’t afford the luxury of this debate. The vast majority of working mothers in our country don’t have a choice about getting to their job, or jobs.  They don’t have a choice to stay home when they’re sick or their kids are under the weather.  There is no choice because they have to work.

Mommy Wars only touches the lives of those of us lucky enough to have a true choice, a group of mostly middle- and upper-income, suburban women who are white. There is no enslavement or oppression for the women lucky enough to have the time to have this nonsensical conversation.  At the risk of overt self-promotion, maybe there’s another book that politicians, scholars and the media ought to be taking a look at in these political and economic times to learn what real women — real moms — are talking about:

I’m no French scholar, but I know a couple of things about what real women are saying, and it ain’t how to divide the world of mothers.  Thoughtful conversations about the fact that women who are mothers are about so much more than they fact that they have kids, get pushed by the wayside.  They don’t sell newspapers and they make good TV (Anderson, I’m talking to you).

I was over at POLITICO’s Arena with my political strategist hat on talking about the imminent end of New Gingrich’s campaign.

I was doing my thing as 2012 Election Editor/Correspondent at iVillage iVote wondering how “Millenials” will impact this year’s presidential election, thinking about who’s going to be the First Lady in 2013, and wondering how long HBO’s new show “Veep” will last.

Thinking about power moms at my weekly Babble Voices column.

And PunditMom got a nice (and unsolicited!) shout-0ut from PRNewswire.

I’m also busy at work on the proposal for my next book idea and looking for an agent, as I try to keep up with my sixth-grader’s social schedule (play rehearsal, soccer, violin practice, being a tween, etc!).

AAAnnnnd! Planning a book tour for Mothers of Intention! While it didn’t just come out, there’s so much attention on women voters at the moment, now is a good time to think about picking up a copy, especially for your own mom!

Image via HBO/http://www.selina-meyer-veep.com/

If Elaine from Seinfeld turned to the world of politics, and added in a dash of Curb Your Enthusiasm and a pinch of The Office, you’d have Selina Meyer, the vice president of unnamed political party in HBO’s new series, VEEP.  I was so excited when I heard this show was getting produced — I had a little inside information since some of the scenes were shot in the offices of someone “close” to me — because I’ve long mourned the demise of Geena Davis as our first pretend POTUS.

With Elaine, I mean Julia Louis-Dreyfus, playing the role of the vice president, I knew the show wasn’t going to be like the West Wing, but I was looking forward to some insight and humor into the unique challenges of women in our testosterone driven world of national politics. But in watching the first couple of episodes of VEEP, that’s not what we’re getting.

While Meyer has idealistic issues as her pet causes — recyclable soy-based eating utensils and filibuster reform — her version of a vice president is more jaded politico than a fresh player with new perspectives. And that made me wonder — is this character of Selina Meyer an example of the kind of woman it will take to eventually be the first woman VP or even the first woman POTUS? If so, I’m not sure that’s a version of female political power I want to see. Call me crazy, but I hope that whoever ends up as the first woman in the Oval Office or the first female vice president will be more than just the same old kind of politician who just happens to wear a skirt and own a curling iron.

Maybe the reason VEEP misses the mark for me is this –  as a satire, the show has nothing to be satirical about. We’ve come close to having a woman as vice president, but so far we have no idea how that experience as second-in-command would actually be any different from Joe Biden’s or Al Gore’s. (As for Dick Cheney’s? I’d rather just forget about that). So what we get is an almost-comedy about what we’ve seen so far in vice presidents, rather than an imagined view of how things might be different when a woman steps into those shoes.

I want to see a woman president (or vice president) before I die, but not one who looks like Selina Meyer.