The last glass ceiling in the race for the U.S. presidency won’t be shattered in 2004.

Eleanor Clift, contributing editor and columnist for Newsweek magazine, predicted to a packed crowd in the Sun Room of the Memorial Union Wednesday that the earliest a woman would make a run for president would be the 2008 election.

Clift said Ambassador Carol Moseley Braun, Democratic candidate for the presidency, won’t win the Democratic nomination but isn’t wasting her time by running.

“There are lots of reasons to run for president short of thinking you’ll actually win,” she said. “You can bring attention to your issues and get yourself in the spotlight.”

Clift, commentator for Fox News Channel and panelist on the McLaughlin Group, said the American people resist electing women as chief executives.

“It’s easier to get elected to the legislature at the state and Congressional level,” she said. “Women know how to talk and they’re peacemakers, but people are skeptical that women can be tough about the budget, law enforcement and simple management.”

Clift began reporting for Newsweek during the women’s movement. After covering the victory of then-unknown Jimmy Carter, Clift was promoted from the New York bureau to Washington, D.C. where she has been a White House corespondent and traveled with many politicians.

Clift said she thinks Hillary Clinton could be the woman able to make a breakthrough on Capitol Hill.

“In the political world, Hillary Clinton is really something of a rock star,” she said. “Aside from her intellect, which is considerable, the dignity and grace with which she handled what must have been a very difficult and humiliating experience [makes her a potential candidate]. She’s one of the few women in politics who doesn’t have to prove that she’s tough.”

Clift said National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice is the other prominent female political figure in America today.

“Nobody thinks she’s there for decoration. She’s no token, which is an image many women have to fight when they get elevated,” she said.

Clift’s picks for the Democratic presidential nomination are Vermont Gov. Howard Dean or Retired Army General Wesley Clark. Dean’s use of the Internet for campaign fund-raising has been revolutionary, she said.

Clift, with one of the most reliable political prediction rates, said Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., as a candidate for the presidency is the “most rational choice for Democrats” but he won’t win the nomination.

“The problem is that he strikes no chord with voters,” she said. “He’s a competent individual but he needs to find a personality.”

Judie Hoffman, Ames City Councilwoman, said she enjoyed hearing about Washington politics after being involved in city government for many years.

“[Clift has] served on the McLaughlin Group and has been called ‘the punching bag’ but I’m glad at least there was one woman in the group,” she said.

Katie Drake, president of the Catt Associates and senior in journalism and mass communication, said women still have considerable progress to make in the political sphere. “From what [Clift] said, it’s evident that we’ve come a long way but we’ve got a long way to go,” she said.

Clift’s latest book focuses on women’s suffrage, a topic she also addressed at the forum. One of the women discussed in the book is Carrie Chapman Catt, an ISU alumna and namesake of the Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women in Politics on campus.

“If Carrie Chapman Catt were alive, she would find plenty to cheer about, but she wouldn’t like that many of us don’t and that we take the vote for granted,” Clift said.