The first woman has entered the 2000 US presidential campaign, with the announcement by Ms Elizabeth Dole that her hat is in the ring for the Republican nomination.
A Gallup poll shows that 92 per cent of Americans are prepared to vote for a woman for president, compared with 82 per cent in 1987 and 33 per cent in 1935.
The wife of the former Republican presidential candidate, Mr Bob Dole, announced yesterday that she has filed the legal papers to set up a committee for fundraising. This will allow her to make a formal declaration when she decides she has the necessary financial support.
Ms Dole (62) has now joined a crowded field for the Republican nomination. Last Sunday the favourite, Governor George W. Bush of Texas, also announced he was setting up an exploratory committee.
A recent Gallup poll has shown that Ms Dole would beat Vice-President Al Gore if they ran against each other in the 2000 election.
Earlier this week, a former governor of Tennessee, Mr Lamar Alexander, entered the Republican race. The other candidates who have declared are the former vice-president, Mr Dan Quayle, the conservative columnist, Mr Pat Buchanan, who is making his third run, Senator Bob Smith of New Hampshire and Congressman John Kasich of Ohio. Other Republicans considering a run are Mr Steve Forbes, the wealthy magazine publisher, and the Arizona senator and Vietnam war hero, Mr John McCain.
Ms Dole trails Mr Bush by 26 points in a Newsweek poll of Republicans asked for their favoured presidential candidate, but she is well ahead of other Republican contenders. Many Republicans would love to see a Bush-Dole ticket for the 2000 election, but Ms Dole is dismissing suggestions that she is interested in the vice-president slot. Ms Dole appeared somewhat nervous yesterday as she made her announcement in Des Moines, Iowa, where there will be an important primary-style contest for the Republican candidates early next year. She walked around the platform with a portable microphone as she outlined her qualifications and her goals.
This Oprah Winfrey style of addressing an audience worked well at the Republican convention in San Diego in 1996 which endorsed her husband's nomination but made her presentation yesterday seem too rushed.
Ms Dole may have extensive experience in public life but she has never run before for elective office and will have to polish her campaign style. But she is an excellent communicator, in some ways better than her husband, who was notorious for losing the thread of his argument and ending sentences with "whatever".
Mr Dole, who has been appearing in TV commercials for Viagra, will also be campaigning for her, of course. But the Washington Times advised Ms Dole yesterday to "put her foot down and demand that her Bob stop selling himself to Pfizer for those `erectile dysfunction' ads".
Ms Dole, who served in the cabinets of President Reagan and President Bush, is calling for lower taxes, an all-out war on illegal drugs, improved education and higher defence spending.
In recent years she achieved a high profile as head of the Red Cross, for which she raised large amounts of money, while increasing the safety of the blood supply although there were also critics of her role there since 1991.