If you're outside the United States — or living in a news vacuum — you might have missed that today is Iowa caucus day. That means that Iowa Republicans will be casting ballots, Iowa Democrats will be standing in different parts of a room and, by the end of the day, we'll be that much closer to knowing who the next woman in the White House will be. This year is exciting because we usually don't get to vote for the woman in the White House.

The closest we've gotten so far is Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, who's two heartbeats away from the Presidency. Of course, as Sarah pointed out last summer, we do have celluloid depictions of women who rule. And we all know that fictional leaders are often more appealing than the real deal. (President Bartlett, anyone?) So, let's see how the real prospects stand up against the fictional. In true Iowa-caucus fashion, pick a candidate, stand in her corner and see if you can convince others to join you.

Madame President

1. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton

Why you should stand in her corner: She's the first female Presidential candidate to have an actual chance of winning. At the Visible Vote forum, she told us, “I'm your girl.” She supports the repeal of “Don't Ask, Don't Tell” and is in favor of civil unions. She is a real-life person.

Why you should stand elsewhere: She doesn't support same-sex marriage “yet.” Lots of people hate her, and some believe that makes her unelectable. … continue reading

I'm a geek worshipper. It's really a form of positive self-esteem, since I am kind of a geek myself. I always love to find women in entertainment who seem to be geeks, not only in the characters they play, but also in real life. GeekSugar.com shares that sentiment and has kicked off a poll of the most popular female geeks of 2007.

First candidate: Mary Lynn Rajskub, Chloe O'Brian on 24.

The pictures are from her spread in Geek Monthly earlier this year. Although Chloe is an übergeek on 24, always able to hack into secret data just in time to save Jack's life, Rajskub herself is not too technically savvy. But in my opinion, she has geek cred because she does things like appear as a troubadour on Gilmore Girls and volunteer for the Young Storytellers Program. I do have one geekish issue with Chloe & company, though. Are we really supposed to believe that a government agency is smart enough to use Macs? … continue reading

This week we count down the worst effects of the writers' strike — from Cashmere Mafia's delayed debut, to no female president until '08, to having to get our news from actual news sources (instead of The Colbert Report).

And then there's the spate of new reality TV shows in the works, like American Gladiators and A Shot at Love 2 ... yes, it's getting downright ugly, people! … continue reading

I’ve never watched 24. Not ever. Not even one clock tick. It’s just not my thing. And after six years of hearing our president mispronounce “terrorists,” I’ve pretty much lost all interest in the topic — real or pretend. So I had no intentions of watching the upcoming seventh season. Then, they started to announce the cast. And, well, things got interesting. The latest new installment, as mentioned in last week’s Best. Lesbian. Week. Ever., is Carly Pope.

You know Carly most recently as the lesbian drug dealer to the stars in Dirt; a CIA agent (the good kind, not the ones in black coats) in The Itty Bitty Titty Committee; and, of course, Sam from Popular. Well, now she will play Samantha Roth, the girlfriend of the president’s son who might be connected to his disappearance. I only watched Dirt on and off — it was a little too bleak and joyless for my taste — but I did catch Carly in a few choice scenes. Very choice. … continue reading

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Don't worry; Cherry Jones hasn't lost her mind and left Sarah Paulson for a man. I'm talking about Jones' character on 24. We learned a few weeks ago that Jones will play President Allison Taylor on the seventh season of the show. Now, meet First Man Henry Taylor:

They say politics makes strange bedfellows. But the better question is, does it make good TV? Famously left-leaning comic Janeane Garofalo will join the cast of the unabashedly right-leaning counterterrorism drama 24 next season. Janeane will play Janis Gold, an FBI systems analyst assigned to the team investigating the crisis befalling Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) and company in the upcoming season.

As a regular cast member the outspoken liberal (heck, she's even had it tattooed on her arm) will work for a man (series co-creator/executive producer Joel Surnow) who is a big Rush Limbaugh fan and happily calls himself a “right-wing nut job.” Wow, that should make for some interesting water cooler conversations. Even Janeane was surprised by her casting, which she told the Ottawa Sun happened "much to my chagrin. That's why I feel like I'm being punked. I feel like the creators are going to make me say things that cause my sphincter to tighten."

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