“Compelling” Clinton commentary

Melody Rose, professor and the founder and director of the Center for Women, Politics and Policy, co-penned the book entitled Hillary Clinton’s Race for the White House: Gender Politics and the Media on the Campaign Trail, published on Oct. 30, 2009.

Writing with co-author Regina G. Lawrence, this look at the role of gender in Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s presidential campaign has received wide acclaim from professors in the field of gender politics.

“We wanted to understand better how the media covers presidential candidates,” Rose said.

Rose said it was a groundbreaking opportunity, because there have been so few female presidential candidates and so little is known on the subject.

The collaboration process with Lawrence, a former colleague of Rose’s, was very fun, she said.

“It was a sprint of a project,” said Rose about the writing process. “I never could have written it so fast myself.”
The book was written in multiple cities while Rose and Lawrence were traveling for conferences and other events.

“We would meet, research and work like mad holed up in a hotel room,” Rose said. “The book was written in Baton Rouge, Washington, D.C., San Diego and other cities.”

Overall, Rose is very pleased with how the book has been received by the scholarly community, and is looking forward to getting the book out in the non-scholarly community as well, she said.

“An ambitious, insightful and sophisticated look at how gender influenced Clinton’s nomination campaign…will appeal to anyone interested in women and politics in the U.S. context,” said Kim Frimkin, an Arizona State University professor of women’s studies.

According to the Eurospan bookstore, the 277-page commentary is “a compelling look at how Hillary Clinton came so close to breaking the ultimate glass ceiling in U.S. politics, why she fell short and what her experience portends for future female candidates in the media-saturated game of presidential politics.”

Rose pulls from her background in political analysis, research and community service in each of her books and in the classroom.

“She is extremely knowledgeable and helpful,” said Rachel Stoll, a former student of Rose’s. “This is her life’s work and it shows. She ignites the in-class discussion and is available for any discourse you care to have outside of class.”

Rose’s contributions as a political analyst in local, state and national matters have not gone unnoticed. In 2007, Rose was chosen as one of Portland’s “100 Most Powerful Women.”

Adding to her roles at Portland State, Rose also serves on the Portland City Club Board of Governors, and won the 2008 PSU Alumni Association’s Distinguished Faculty Award for excellence in research, teaching and community engagement.

For the Hillary Clinton book, Rose received an honorable mention in the 2008 Carrie Chapman Catt Prize for Research on Women and Politics.

The annual competition, held by the Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics at Iowa State University, is designed to encourage and reward scholars embarking on significant research in the area of women and politics.

Other books from Rose include Abortion: A Documentary and Reference Guide and Safe, Legal, and Unavailable? Abortion Politics in the 21st Century, and Uncompromising Positions: God, Sex, and the U.S. House of Representatives. All of these titles are available through Portland State’s Millar Library.

Rose is currently working on a new book entitled Executive Women, which includes input from a dozen or so other authorities on the subject, according to Rose.

Rose and Lawrence will be conducting a book talk on Race for the White House on Feb. 25.