9News Colorado
May 17, 2007
Adam Schrager, Political Reporter
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DENVER - Dafna Michaelson proudly wears numerous hats these days, including executive at Denver Health Medical Center, mother of two and community activist. Now, she's hoping to add one more to the list: politician.
"It is our obligation to be out there and to be taking care of each other and one really good way to do that is to run for political office," said the Denver resident, who hopes to be a candidate for State Senate next year. "It is worth every minute and every effort if you are going to make an impact in your community. It is our job to shape the world around us. We cannot just sit by and watch."
Michaelson will join more than 100 women at the "Go Run" political leadership training conference this weekend in Denver.
Go Run is an initiative of The White House Project, a non-profit designed to encourage women to run for political office. Organizers say the conference is not political party specific, but it is gender specific.
"We would love to organize ourselves out of a job," said Faith Winter, who is the national field director for The White House Project.
Winter says women make up 16 percent of the members of Congress and 34 percent of the members of Colorado's state legislature. That's the third highest figure of any state in the country and is changing minds in Colorado schools.
"We're going into elementary schools and a few years ago when we asked little girls what a politician looked like, they would all say, 'Well, he's old and white and male,'" said Winter. "Now, we're starting to get little girls to say 'she.'"
The faculty at the two-day event will include prominent women politicians in Colorado including State Treasurer Cary Kennedy (D-Colorado) and the first female Speaker of the House, Lola Spradley (R-Beulah). They will talk about issues like fundraising, public speaking and how to navigate the political parties.
"Anyone can do it. I mean, it's really not a difficult process to get into," said Jefferson County Clerk and Recorder Pam Anderson (R-Wheat Ridge), who will be a panelist at the conference. "My message is do it if you're motivated."
Anderson was elected last fall to her current position after being "fired up" at the local level years ago which inspired her to run for a position in the Wheat Ridge city government. She said she plans to tell attendees the story of how in the middle of a close race last fall, which was very demanding, she had some self-doubt.
"We worked so hard and we did make sacrifices. I made sacrifices. I missed some baseball games. I missed some soccer games and if we weren't successful in the end, how would I feel about those sacrifices, would it still be worth it?" she asked herself. "My husband said something to me which I think is true. Running for office for my children is setting an example, saying you can do this. This is something that's worthwhile."
For Michaelson, who received a national leadership award Thursday from the Hadassah organization which advocates for Israel, the opportunity to get together with other like-minded women, will be inspiring... even if they're not ideologically aligned on every issue.
"The Go Run training is an opportunity for all women, no matter what their previous level of political involvement is, to be trained, to be focused, to be guided and to be supported in this process," she said. "This is an opportunity for women to be asked to run for political office."
