Postcards

Can women win? Meg, Carly, and Feinstein's view

by Patricia Sellers

This week in Detroit, where I interviewed Charlene Begley--General Electric's (GE) top-ranking female exec and No. 27 on the Fortune Most Powerful Women list--someone in the audience asked: "When will we see women holding half the CEO positions in Fortune 500 companies?"

Whoa! Begley is hardly a shrinking violet, but she lobbed this one to me. And I replied: "Never ever ever ever."

If you're a regular reader of Postcards, you know my view: MORE

Former eBay chief Whitman meets her challenger

It's the newbie against the veteran. Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman met her match today as California Attorney General Jerry Brown declared his candidacy.

The former eBay (EBAY) CEO, whom I profiled last spring in a Fortune cover story called "Can Meg Whitman save California?", now leads her Republican rivals in the gubernatorial race. But she and Brown, a Democrat who served as governor from 1975 to 1983 and ran MORE

Ex-White House Press Secretary: Straight talk on careers

by Jessica Shambora

Dana Perino is only 37 years old and already has the title "White House Press Secretary" on her resume.

But at age 25, after working on Capitol Hill for two and a half years, she was saying to herself, "I thought I'd be further along than this."

All around her, it seemed, men were leap-frogging into higher positions. She wasn't sure which path would help her advance her own career.

That MORE

Power Point: Go for lead dog

"As every Iditarod musher knows, if you're not the lead dog, the view never changes."

-- Sarah Palin, in Going Rogue. Yep, she's ambitious--and No. 1 on Amazon.com.

Can Fiorina and Whitman save California?

Carly Fiorina declared her candidacy for the U.S. Senate--in a bid to replace another well-known woman, incumbent California Democrat Barbara Boxer.

Fiorina, who was No. 1 on Fortune's Most Powerful Women list for six years when she was CEO of Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), will be pounding the campaign trail simultaneously with another ex-No. 1 on our list: Meg Whitman. The former eBay (EBAY) CEO, who topped Fortune's power list in 2004 and MORE

Condi Rice garners standing ovation from Most Powerful Women crowd

One of the highlights of last week's Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit was an appearance by former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who sat down with Fortune's Washington editor, Nina Easton. Rice got personal about her parents and passion for education. She also waxed political, on Russia, China, Afghanistan and Iran. Whatever their views, Summit audience members were moved, giving Rice a standing ovation as she left the stage. (Read MORE

Power Point: President Obama was black before and after the election

"First of all, I think it's important to realize that I was actually black before the election."

-- President Barack Obama, on the Late Show with David Letterman Tuesday night. In the first appearance of a sitting President on Letterman's show, Obama covered health care and Afghanistan, but also addressed concerns that the rage seen at recent town hall meetings was rooted in racism. He doesn't think it has anything to MORE

Former eBay CEO Meg Whitman to formally announce GOP gubernatorial candidacy

Today, former eBay (EBAY) CEO Meg Whitman will formally announce her bid for the GOP nomination for the 2010 California gubernatorial race. Whitman wants to cut state spending by another $15 billion and create 2 million private-sector jobs by 2015, according to a speech prepared for today's announcement in Fullerton, Calif.

But Whitman's candidacy has been in the works for a while. In March, Pattie wrote a Fortune cover story called MORE

FDIC's Bair sets the record straight

By Leigh Gallagher

FDIC chief Sheila Bair gave an insightful and informative interview to CNBC anchor Maria Bartiromo in one of the Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit's headline sessions today.

Bair, No.3 on Fortune's Most Powerful Women in Washington list, spent most of the interview doing what she probably does a lot of these days -- clearing up confusion about her agency in the public view. Right off the bat, Bair disputed MORE

Power Point: Do whatever it takes

"We will get in a rocket and fly around the moon if that is what it takes to get everybody together and get an agreement."

-- White House press secretary Robert Gibbs on President Obama's proposed health-care reforms. While Gibbs opted for sarcasm, the President took the philosophical route, recalling landmark social reforms. "These struggles always boil down to a contest between hope and fear," he said. "That was true in MORE