Sink Launches 'Women for Alex'

State CFO Alex Sink, the likely Democratic candidate in the gubernatorial race, is talking up her gender. On Tuesday, Sink will kick off a new arm of her campaign, Women for Alex.

Thirty years ago, when I started working my way up in the business world, women executives were few and far between, wrote Sink to supporters this weekend. It wasn't easy breaking the glass ceiling, but I wasn't about to let that hold me back.

This race isn't just about electing a businesswoman or PTA mom, it's about building a stronger future for Florida, continued Sink. The future makes me think about my children, especially my daughter Lexi. I want her to know what a difference strong women can make.

And thats the rub. Strong women have made a difference in politics in Florida -- something Sink did not even acknowledge in the e-mail.

Alex Sink would be the first woman to be elected governor of Florida and that would be of great importance if she wins in November.

Florida has not exactly been hostile to women in politics, despite not voting on the 19th Amendment until Claude Kirk was governor. Ruth Bryan Owens was the first woman to represent Florida -- and any state in the South -- in Congress during the 1920s. She also was the first woman to serve as a U.S. ambassador when FDR sent her to Denmark in 1933. More recently, Paula Hawkins won a U.S. Senate seat in 1980. Florida political history has many prominent examples of women who served in office: Carrie Meek, Tillie Fowler, Toni Jennings, Betty Castor and Pam Iorio come to mind and, of course, six of Floridas 25 U.S. House delegation are women. There are plenty of women in Floridas past and present who, to use Sinks phrase, broke the glass ceiling in order to build a better future in Florida.