Remembering Harriet Woods, June 2, 1927 - February 8, 2007

She entered politics because the city wouldn’t fix a noisy manhole cover that woke her babies up from their naps, and because she got steamed, women nationwide have benefited politically.

When she didn’t get any action on that manhole cover, she ran for a city council seat. From the city council, she was elected to the state legislature at a time when only two women held seats in the Missouri lege. – State Senator Harriet Woods and State Representative Sue Shear.

Harriet Woods was one of a kind, a scrapper to the very end, and she will be sorely missed. Ill with leukemia, a disease that would take her life a few weeks later, the first woman elected to statewide office in Missouri was out stumping and hustling and working to get Democratic women elected to the Missouri legislature.

When Harriet Woods gave incumbent Republican Senator Jack Danforth the political scare of his lifetime in 1982 (she lost by a mere 28,000 votes), only two women sat in the upper chamber – Barbara Mikulski of Maryland and Nancy Kassebaum of Kansas – and now, a mere 25 years later, sixteen women occupy senate seats – And that seat Harriet Woods came so close to occupying is the one Claire McCaskill just snatched away from Jim Talent.

Harriet Woods near upset of Jack Danforth, and the post analysis that revealed she could have won with another $25,000 - $50,000 of campaign cash, was the impetus for the founding of EMILY”s List. (Early Money Is Like Yeast – it makes the dough rise).

The 1986 Missouri Senate race set the template for future senate races in our state. Bond showed us just how low and loathsome Republicans were willing to go. He started flinging mud early and didn’t stop. He won that election, but he lost a piece of his soul as penance for what he had to do to win. But the Democratic template was set too, and a woman has been the Democratic candidate in Senate races more often than not since then. And this year, we succeeded in electing Claire, who effuses that her success is due to Harriet Woods blazing the trail.

Harriet Woods is survived by three sons and nine grandchildren. No visitation is planned, but a memorial will be held later in the month.

In lieu of flowers, her family said, donations could be made to the University City Educational Foundation “and, of course, to the candidate of your choice.” (I made my memorial contribution to EMILY's List)