NOW couldn't be more confident of victory in the long-awaited ballot recount. Having Maria Cantwell (D-WA) back in Congress will add one more strong feminist voice to the U.S. Senate at a time when such voices are urgently needed.

Anticipation of a Senate vote will impact the quality of presidential nominations, not only to the U.S. Supreme Court, but also to Cabinet-level and other policy-making positions in any new administration.

Cantwell joins Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Jean Carnahan (D- MO), Jon Corzine (D-NJ), Mark Dayton (D-MN) and Bill Nelson (D-FL) in increasing the number of Senators who support women's rights. Cantwell brings the number of women in the Senate to 13, a 44 percent increase since 1998 and a 650 percent increase over the past decade.

Meanwhile, the Bush-Cheney campaign continues pushing to exclude ballots cast in South Florida.  At the same time, they're adamantly claiming for Bush Seminole County votes from absentee ballots, which were obtained only after Republican operatives filled in information that state law requires the voter or a family member to complete.

The absentee ballots the Republicans are scrambling to keep in play are overwhelmingly those of conservative men.  The votes the Bush-Cheney campaign is so desperate to keep out of the count are disproportionately votes of women and African Americans.

While the Senate remains overwhelmingly male and without a single African American member, we are confident we will be able to focus public pressure on the Senate to be mindful of the popular vote in its deliberations on issues as well as on nominations, no matter who sits in the White House.

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