Stephanie's Take

The EMILY’s List community and I are deeply saddened by the loss of Betty Ford over the weekend. She was an inspirational figure for women, iconic for always being candid and honest, championing issues few dared to even speak about at the time.

Well, it was a night we won't soon forget: we kept our majority in the Senate with a huge victory for Barbara Boxer, but we lost the House and some of the amazing women you've helped elect. I know that you've all put so much into supporting our candidates this cycle, so I wanted to share some initial thoughts with you.

I wanted to share this note from our EMILY's List President, Stephanie Schriock about consumer advocate Elizabeth Warren. Elizabeth has made some exciting news in the Bay State. Read Stephanie's report:

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That old phrase "the company you keep" has been on my mind lately. A few weeks ago, EMILY's List launched a campaign to highlight the extremist agenda of Sarah Palin and her candidates. We asked for women's perspectives, and boy, did we get it. Along with the quarter of a million people who watched our video, we received some wonderful, touching, inspiring and to-the-point letters and emails:

"I support women candidates, but not ones that speak against women's rights!" - Carolyn, MO

Back in 1985, a person's power was measured by the weight of her Rolodex.

It's been 25 years since EMILY's List founder Ellen Malcolm gathered a group of Rolodex-carrying friends in her basement to start building a network to help elect more pro-choice Democratic women to office.

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Editor's note: This was originally written by Stephanie for The Huffington Post. You can read the original post here.

Five.

Out of more than 40 members of Congress and the Cabinet attending the President’s health care summit yesterday, that’s how many were women.

Shocking, isn’t it? But in a representative democracy where only 17 percent of Congress is made up of women, that’s what we get -- a group that’s far from representative.

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Editor's note: In June, the New Leaders Council announced the 2010 recipients of their "40 Under 40" award, and our own Stephanie Schriock was among the winners. Her blog reflecting on the challenges ahead -- which you can read below -- was posted by Care2 to share some background on the "40 Under 40" winners with their own members.

Let's talk about where you and I will find ourselves if we don't roll up our sleeves, get the vote out, and re-elect Democratic women to Congress: we'll be living in John Boehner's America. Make no mistake -- if Republicans succeed in their efforts, discouraging women voters and taking away the gavel from Nancy Pelosi, then we'll get Speaker Boehner.

Late last night, votes were still being counted in Minnesota. Unfortunately, EMILY’s List candidate for governor Margaret Anderson Kelliher came up just a few thousand votes short of one her opponents, Mark Dayton. As an alum of Senator Al Franken’s campaign in the very same state, I can tell you I certainly know the difference a seemingly small number of votes can make. In the end, though, the poll numbers - and who wins because of them - don’t tell the whole story.