By Nicole Yelich for Biz Chicks -Business gurus, high techies, optometrists, health care entrepreneurs, environmental rock stars – even popular TV characters — are all doing it.  What is it?  Running for office next year.  And these are just a few of the new faces taking the plunge into politics, thanks to The 2012 Project.

The 2012 Project, a national, non-partisan campaign of the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University, aims to elect an unprecedented number of women to state legislatures and the U.S. Congress.  Do you remember 1992 – known as ‘The Year of the Woman’ – when more women were elected to Congress than ever before?  The 2012 Project wants to beat that record by reaching out to executive women in the public and private sectors across the country and encouraging them to run for office.

2012 presents a unique opportunity when redistricting (which creates new districts and open seats) coincides with a Presidential election year (which means higher voter turnout) to make a perfect playing field for fresh faces to step up to the political stage.  Once a woman steps forward to run, The 2012 Project team connects her to resources and networks to help her launch a successful campaign.

To increase the number of women candidates, The 2012 Project is taking its national strategy to a more focused, local level.  State coalitions are forming across the United States with organizations committed to women’s political leadership working together to share strategies for identifying new women to run in 2012.  Alabama was the first state to bring a large coalition of bi-partisan political, community, business and professional organizations to the table.  Since then, Texas, Washington, Illinois, Georgia, Pennsylvania and Arizona have all launched similar efforts.  Nevada, Iowa and Missouri are next.

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