The Rules for a Fair Fight

Duerst-Lahti suggests that the importance of toughness may help explain Hillary Clinton's relative hawkishness.

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"She came out and she was the toughest of all of them in the Democratic field, at least on what to do in Iraq," Duerst-Lahti says. "She had to out-masculine all her male counterparts."

But not too tough.

In the 2002 Massachusetts gubernatorial race, Mitt Romney described his opponent Shannon O'Brien's attacks on him as "unbecoming" -- after she questioned him sharply about his position on abortion during a debate. Unbecoming: antonym of ladylike? Discuss.

Former Washington mayor Sharon Pratt (formerly Sharon Pratt Kelly) was criticized for being cold. Clinton has been described by Karl Rove as "brittle" and by the head of New York's Republican Party as "an angry woman."

It's the same old story. A strong man is admired. A strong woman is -- well, with due deference to a line Barbara Bush once used about Ferraro -- it "rhymes with rich."

Female candidates traverse a narrow path, avoiding behaviors that might give rise to stereotypes. Be firm, but not angry. Be compassionate, but not weepy. Too much emotion: dangerous.

(See: September 1987. Patricia Schroeder cries when announcing she isn't running for president. AP headline: "She Says Crying Not Sign of Weakness.")

Managing the clothes

"Women are more likely to appear in business clothing in ads, whereas guys often roll up their sleeves and appear in work shirts," says Huddy. That's because women need to reinforce the image of themselves as competent and professional.

Republican strategist Kellyanne Conway says she tells all of her female candidates: "You need to figure out what to do with your gender and then you need to stick with it." That means one hairstyle and one look. The less written about appearance, she says, the more space for stances. In her 2000 Senate race, Clinton turned to dark pantsuits. "She basically put herself in what I call a campaign uniform," Conway says.

With that uniform and a relatively consistent hairstyle, Clinton blunted the impact of two of those female candidate bugaboos. There's a trifecta, you see.