NRCC's Young 90%-Male Guns

In my ongoing obsessive documentation of the vanishing elected Republican woman, there's been a little promising news, but also some setbacks for the ladies of the GOP.

--The National Republican Congressional Committee has added 40 more candidates to its "Young Guns" program, now that 1st quarter 2010 fundraising numbers are in. Just three of them are women -- which continues the trend, since there were previously only five out of more than 60, as I have blogged about before. Probably the best chance of the newly-added women is Jaime Herrera, running for an open seat in Washington that's considered winnable for Republicans. (Of local interest: Jeff Perry and Jon Golnik, running for Delahunt's open seat and against Niki Tsongas respectively, became the first Bay Staters named to the program.)

--On the plus side, Kay Bailey Hutchison reneged on her promise to resign for the US Senate, after getting trounced in the Texas gubernatorial primary. That means all four female Republican Senators will return in 2011, giving the party a clear shot at increasing that pathetic number. Among those who might join the Senate, Kelly Ayotte continues to run strong in New Hampshire. However, Nevada frontrunner Sue Lowden has some trouble. First off, some national conservatives have decided to rally toward the other woman in the primary field, Sharron Angle, which may end up helping Danny Tarkanian win. Also, Lowden has made herself look a tad foolish by suggesting bartering as part of an approach to health care reform -- as in, paying your doctor in chickens. And then she defended the idea. Yeesh. In Colorado, primary frontrunner Jane Norton has run into so much resistance from the conservative base that she's decided to skip the GOP state convention, and get on the ballot via signatures. Ouch. And in California, Carly Fiorina continues to flail.

--As for governor candidates, Mary Fallin is still strong in Oklahoma, and Meg Whitman seems to have righted the ship in California, and is even polling slightly ahead of presumptive Democratic nominee Jerry Brown. Nikki Haley in South Carolina still looks like a longshot, but she got endorsed by Mitt Romney, which adds some credibility and presumably some much-needed fundraising help. Susana Martinez raised a truckload of money in her New Mexico race, but is still running third in the primary and way behind Democrat Diane Denish. And Georgia's Karen Handel, another conservative blogosphere darling, has moved into a solid second place in primary polling, giving her a legitimate shot if things develop right. Kay Ivey, however, has abandoned her run in Alabama, switching to the lieutenant governor race, and Pat Anderson has dropped out of the race in Minnesota, and is now running for state auditor.