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GUEST: Barbara Palmer is assistant professor at American University and an affiliated faculty member at the Women and Politics Institute, co-author of “Breaking the Political Glass Ceiling: Women and Congressional Elections.”

Last week we spoke with Democratic candidate for Congress Francine Busby in the first Congressional race of the year. Busby is a former Republican who now pledges alliegance to the Democratic party. San Diego’s special election, which took place yesterday, was to replace the disgraced Randy “Duke” Cunningham who pleaded guilty to charges of bribery and stepped down last year. Busby did not win the 50% required to claim the position outright. She did finish in first place, at 44%, in the heavily Republican district. Her closest rival, Republican Brian Bilbray, received 15%. There will be a run-off in June.

If Francine Busby wins the June runoff, she may become only the 68th woman in the 435-strong House of Representatives. We turn next to the co-author of a new book, “Breaking the Political Glass Ceiling: Women and Congressional Elections.” The authors of the book looked at every race with a woman candidate from 1956 through 2004, to figure out where women won – and why. They found that the single biggest barrier for women was the fact that most incumbents are men – and almost all incumbents win.

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