Will women finally be elected to top Iowa offices?

Although nearly 300 women filed to run for the U.S. House and Senate this year, prompting some speculation of 2010 being “The Year of the Woman,” odds remain long that Iowa on Tuesday will elect its first female member of Congress.

“I can't tell you how many times it's been the ‘year of the woman' without there being a woman from Iowa,” says Roxanne Conlin, who was unsuccessful in 1982 trying to become the first woman elected Iowa governor. This year, she hopes to be the first woman elected to the U.S. Senate from Iowa.

However, the best chance for a woman to break Iowa's political glass ceiling this year, according to Dianne Bystrom, director of Iowa State University's Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics, may be 2nd District challenger Republican Mariannette Miller-Meeks. Although Miller-Meeks' polling put her rematch with Democratic Rep. Dave Loebsack within the margin of error, her success may depend on riding the coattails of Sen. Chuck Grassley and former Gov. Terry Branstad - two Republicans expected to win by big margins.

“So if it's that close and Branstad gets out the vote, that will really help (Miller-Meeks') chances,” Bystrom said.

Iowa is one of just four states (with Delaware, Mississippi and Vermont) never to elect a woman to Congress. Miller-Meeks believes Iowa will leave that group when the right woman runs.

“A woman won't get elected merely because she's a woman,” Miller-Meeks, an Ottumwa ophthalmologist and former Iowa Medical Society president, says. “But if she has the credentials, is articulate and has a grasp of the issues, that person can get some votes from the opposite party because she is all of those things. The icing on the cake is that she's a woman and you've never elected one.”

The outlook isn't as positive for Democratic U.S. Senate challenger Conlin, who Bystrom says faces a steep uphill battle to unseat Grassley, a five-term Republican. Bystrom says Conlin's running a strong race and she doubts Grassley will win with 70 percent of the vote as he did in 2004.

Conlin chipped the glass ceiling by winning the largest percentage of votes - 46.5 percent against Branstad in 1982. With Conlin polling around 30 percent against Grassley, she is likely to best 1992 Democratic nominee Jean Lloyd-Jones' mark of 27.2 percent against Grassley.

“I don't want any record,” Conlin says. “I want to go” to Congress.

She understands people's interest in whether Iowa will send a woman to Congress but would like to see the day when gender is irrelevant.

“I don't think it is today, but someday soon,” she says.

It's not irrelevant to 50-50 in 2020, a bipartisan, issue-neutral group that wants women to hold half the seats in Iowa's congressional delegation by 2020.

Not all women agree with that goal.

In a letter to the editor, Iowa Rep. Mary Mascher, D-Iowa City, wrote: “While Dr. Mariannette Miller-Meeks has an impressive resume, she isn't the right choice for Iowa women.”

Miller-Meeks says she heard from Democratic women who objected to the “inherent sexism” of the letter.

However, Mascher defends her letter, written with Lloyd-Jones - a 50-50 in 2020 organizer - explaining they wanted to counter any suggestion women should back Miller-Meeks simply because she's a woman.

“There are a lot of women concerned that would jeopardize Rep. Loebsack,” she says. “We want progressive representation and men can do that, too.”

There's always partisan “pushback” when it comes to the notion of electing more women to political office,” Bystrom says. The Catt Center is a 50-50 partner, but not its primary organizer.

Unlike political parties, which are focused on partisan politics and electing their own, Bystrom's agenda is focused on gender.

“Some of us who study women and politics, including myself, see the benefits of electing women from both political parties to public office,” Bystrom says. “Studies have shown that women of both parties are able to work together in Congress and state legislatures on many issues that impact women.”