Sparkly pointed out Pat Schroeder

[Renew Deal]

I give Sparkly credit for pointing this out. There was a female candidate that considered running for president. She didn't because she couldn't figure out how to make it work. Here's the story.

On September 28, 1987, when Rep. Patricia Schroeder announced she had decided not to run for president, she burst into tears and said, "I couldn’t figure out a way to run. There must be a way, but I haven't figured it out yet." Political women spent a long time defending those tears, but behind the scenes they were mortified.

Much has happened in the past 15 years, and while no woman has made it to the White House – or even into the presidential primaries – women candidates have figured out a lot. They know how to raise money, how to run a campaign and how to handle the brutal give and take of modern politics without dissolving into tears.
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http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/08/06/opinion/lynch/main517709.shtml

[TwilightZone]

1. Regardless of one's opinion of her, there is little doubt that her campaign is unprecedented.

Even Obama had a precedent - Jesse Jackson won several primaries in both '84 and '88.

Hillary will be the first female candidate to win a primary or caucus. How many she'll win has yet to be determined.

[NWHarkness]

2. And Shirley Chisholm and Carol Mosely-Braun

But I think it's fair to say that Clinton is the first female candidate with a real shot at the nomination.