Leslie Sanchez is taking the assumptions and myths about women in politics and turning them on their heads. YOU'VE COME A LONG WAY, MAYBE (Palgrave Macmillan; October 2009) tackles hard-hitting questions like: Can women handle the stress and confrontation of life in the political limelight?  Why are women judged in terms of factors like fashion and approachability?  How did the media manage to boil down three complex women into the ditz, the bitch, and the darling of Election '08?  D.C.-based Leslie Sanchez lives in the hotbed of high level politics, and can answer these questions with unparalleled authority, experience, sass, and candor. 

In YOU'VE COME A LONG WAY, MAYBE, Leslie tackles such tough issues as:

How women deal with competition.

The 2008 election showed women that, regardless of the rhetoric of solidarity, women still can't escape the need to come out on top.  By fighting against each other, they made it harder to reach what they all agree, at least in public, is their common agenda.

Whether Sarah Palin was a step forward

or a step back for women.

Only the second woman to be part of a national political ticket, Sarah Palin matched her core conservative convictions with an almost stunning lack of preparation for the task at hand.  Did she hurt the cause of women in politics or did she help it - and what her surprising resignation from the Alaska governorship means for her and for women everywhere.

Does sexism still exist in politics?

Did the campaigns of Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin and the campaigning style of Michelle Obama help or hurt women with political aspirations?  More to the point, did they overcome or confirm the sexist stereotypes that have, historically, been so damaging to women.

Are the new social networks enough to provide a meaningful political legacy to America's younger generation of women?

All the campaigns relied on social media as an organizing tool, really marking the first time in the modern political era that women came together as a positive force for something rather than a force to change things in society they didn't like.  Was it enough?  And have women reached the point where they don't have to be "mean girls" to win?

Rep. Tom Cole of Oklahoma once said of Leslie Sanchez:

"She breaks all the stereotypes. It's hard to look at her and think, 'That's a three-piece-suit Republican.'" 

Sanchez begs us to do the same for Sarah Palin, Michelle Obama, and Hillary Clinton-eschew the old stereotypes and think outside the box of yesterday's expectations of conventional womanhood.  Like the women in it, YOU'VE COME A LONG WAY, MAYBE's impact is sure to resonate for years to come. 

YOU CAN ALSO FOLLOW LESLIE ON TWITTER AT www.twitter.com/lesliesanchez  WHERE FANS HAVE CREATED A SPECIAL HASHTAG FOR THE BOOK: #LWM ("LONG WAY MAYBE").

ADDITIONAL UPDATES CAN BE FOUND ON THE #LWM FACEBOOK FAN PAGE AT: http://www.facebook.com/LongWayMaybe

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LOS REPUBLICANOS: WHY HISPANICS AND REPUBLICANS NEED EACH OTHER

Hispanics comprise one of America's largest business-minded, faith-based, culturally-conservative entities-and their numbers continue to grow. Long assumed to be aligned with the Democrats, Hispanics have been ignored by many Republicans. Noted Hispanic marketing expert and political commentator Leslie Sanchez passionately argues that Hispanics, after years of watching Democrats fail them, need to shift their bets to Los Republicanos or risk gambling away their political future. Beyond being the likely deciding factor in the 2008 elections, Hispanics are poised to be the next great political force in America.

In her book, Leslie debunks the cultural and political myths about Hispanics and Republicans alike. She documents the history of Republican appeals to Hispanics starting with Nixon's Hispanic Strategy in the 1970s to George W. Bush's campaigns for president. She also offers a look at today's changing Hispanic mindset and the new dynamic forces on the rise.

Leslie reveals:

That Hispanics are the next big swing vote-and why the
Democrats don't believe it.

Why Republicans' intolerance on immigration could wreck the
party's governing majority.

How Hispanics are "wired differently": corporate America
gets it and political campaigns need to follow.

Why Spanish media in the U.S. promotes American liberals,
not Hispanic values.

From Cesar Chavez to Carlos Mencia-the impact on business
and politics of young, upwardly mobile Hispanics.

How the evangelism of Hispanics, both Catholic and
Protestant, will shift the Latino political center of gravity.

See more here: http://www.losrepublicanos.com/index.htm

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