Last week, the buzz in the nation's Capital centered on the British Daily Telegraph's anointing of the "Most Influential" American conservative and liberal leaders. The newspaper's Washington correspondents compiled a list of the top-100 among the most influential liberals and conservatives in America and published the names in increments of 20 per day. Their assessment of influence hinged on the amount of perceived influence in what the correspondents consider "the most open presidential election since 1928." What is worth careful assessment in a list that is intriguing in numerous ways is to analyze the gender divide in the Daily Telegraph's list by comparing their inclusion of liberal versus conservative women. The liberal list includes 19 women; the conservative list only seven, a better than two and half to one ratio. Obviously, the liberal list has the only female presidential candidate; but two of the wives of liberal candidates made the list (Elizabeth Edwards and Michelle Obama) whereas none of the conservative candidates' wives made the list. Note that the husband of the female presidential candidate, Bill Clinton, ranked #1 among the liberal men. Laura Bush, wife of the current conservative president (whom they only ranked 21st) made the list at #59. The liberals lead four to zero in female fundraisers/lobbyists -- Joan Blades from Moveon.org, Beth Dozeretz, a top Hillary Clinton underwriter, Debbie Dingel, a chief lobbyist for General Motors is also a well-connected advocate on women's and children's issues, and Ellen Malcolm founded Emily's List who works tirelessly to get pro-abortion women in Congress. The Leading Ladies of Influence

ABSTINENCE EDUCATORS Abstinence educators are crying foul over a report that claims their programs do not delay the initiation of sex, hasten the return to abstinence or reduce the number of sexual partners among teens. Douglas Kirby, author of the study, is a staff member of ETR, a company that specializes in condom-based sex education curricula. Linda Klepacki, sexual health analyst for Focus on the Family Action, said that alone should cast doubt on the validity of the research.  “The more that he can say that abstinence education does not work, the more money he makes," she told Family News in Focus. "This is biased to the extreme.” Biased Abstinence Ed Report Draws Criticism

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