It Takes A Van Full of Women
The title is Harpaz's nod to the Timothy Crouse non-fiction classic The Boys on the Bus, an account of the 1972 Nixon-McGovern presidential race. The Girls in the Van updates the campaign trail tale as issues of gender confront both the female candidate and the female reporters on the Senate campaign beat, many with children back home.
Out of Bounds
Harpaz, a working mother with two young sons, also describes her complex efforts to maintain home / career boundaries while on the campaign trail and, when that wasn't possible, to overlap them in a family-friendly way. She writes about the irony of covering a woman seen as pro-child, yet whose own schedule skewered Harpaz's home life.
Many mothers will empathize when Harpaz, a New Yorker, takes her energetic son outside at night to blow off some steam in front of her apartment while quietly conducting an interview on her cell phone, one eye on her notes, the other on her child.
Potty Talk
And in a situation that crystallizes a working mom's life into one unexpected moment, Harpaz tells how - after months of covering Clinton without getting past her well-maintained facade - Clinton engages Harpaz in a short conversation about potty training and lets down her guard enough for Harpaz to glimpse a warm, funny, and caring woman hidden within.
If you're looking for a fun, accessible read about politics and women, you'll want to hitch a ride.
The Girls in the Van: Covering Hillary
by Beth Harpaz
Hardcover, 320pp. ISBN: 978-0312281267
Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin's Press October 2001
