10 Reasons Women Rocked Election Night

1. Um, Tammy Baldwin. Not only was Tammy Baldwin the first openly gay Senator—as in, the first to actually campaign as a gay person and then win without an embarrassing toe-tapping incident—Baldwin is a woman.

2. Speaking of the Senate, there are now 20 women in the U.S. Senate. Sure, that's out of 100, but that's a record, people. The women of the Senate could put out an entire softball lineup with designated hitters, coaching staff, athletic trainers, relief pitchers—the whole nine yards. Here is every female Senator serving in the 113th Congress starting in January:  

Tammy Baldwin (WI)*
Elizabeth Warren (MA)*
Mazie Hirono* (HI)
Deb Fischer* (NE)
Heidi Heitkamp* (N.D.)
Claire McCaskill (MO)
Maria Cantwell  (WA)
Dianne Feinstein (CA)
Barbara Boxer (CA)
Kirsten Gillibrand (NY)
Amy Klobuchar (MN)
Debbie Stabenow (MI)
Susan Collins (ME)
Kay Hagan (NC)
Jeanne Shaheen (NH)
Kelly Ayotte (NH)
Mary Landrieu (LA)
Barbara Mikulski (MD)
Lisa Murkowski (AK)
Patty Murray (WA)

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3. New Hampshire is also the land of the lady. Not only does the state have a female governor now, Democrat Maggie Hassan, but its entire Congressional delegation is female: Representatives Carol Shea-Porter, Ann McLane Kuster*, and U.S. senators Kelly Ayotte and Jeanne Shaheen. By the way, female empowerment is nothing new for New Hampshire. In 1999, New Hampshire was the first state to have a female governor (Shaheen), house speaker (Donna Sytek), and senate president (Beverly Hollingworth) at the same time. In 2009, it was the first state to have a female majority in the state Senate, and if that isn't enough, a year later that state Senate approved a marriage equality law.

4. America is finally getting on the marriage equality train. After more than a decade of people freaking out about giving *gasp!!!* two women the ability to marry *clutch the pearls* each other (!!), Minnesota rejected heteros-only drinking fountains (catering companies?) and Maryland, Maine, and Washington all are about to have a nice big revenue boost from all of those romantic, rustic lesbian farm weddings.

5. We can finally stop talking about rape as though it's a political football, and not a real thing that happens to actual human women. See ya, Akin, Mourdock, and the rest of you crazies.

6. Flag Hair Lady is a national treasure. Patriotism at its best.

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7. Even the Obama family is three-quarters female. Obama wins with women, indeed. If Mitt wanted to win, maybe he and Ann should have tried a little harder for at least one daughter.

8. The Republicans in the House are going to have a harder time defunding important initiatives for women's health like Planned Parenthood, which provides birth control and preventative care (basically, not just abortions, people) to millions of women across the country. According to EMILY'S List, Republican members of Congress have wasted $249 million of taxpayer money engaging in the War on Women during this session.

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9. And women were one of the most important groups that carried Obama back to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., last night. Fifty-five percent of women favored Obama versus 43% who were into Romney. In the end, however, many women shocked pundits by revealing that we care about issues aside from our hair and heels—it was the economy, stupid, and not Obama's encyclopedic knowledge of Sex And The City that won us over. Terry O'Neill, president of the National Organization for Women, said: "It is economic issues. Sure, at a certain point it's also about rights, but at a more immediate level it's about survival. When you look at unmarried women, they are very often the head of their families or taking care of elders. What they saw in Mitt Romney was someone who had disdain for them – as part of the 47%. He wanted to cut after-school programs, Head Start, food stamps and job training programs."

10.  Sarah Palin looks scary now -- you don't have to feel weird for finding her moderately attractive anymore. Also, good luck getting Republican men to pay attention to her now.

*Newly elected to the post

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