Women in politics rare before Landrieu

• By WILL SENTELL
• Capitol news bureau
• Published: Oct 26, 2008 - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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Democrat Mary Landrieu says she left LSU 30 years ago with plans to enter Christian ministry, not politics.

Despite her political pedigree — her father is former New Orleans Mayor Moon Landrieu — public service was mostly a male calling at the time.

“I did not think I would ever run for office,” said Landrieu, who is seeking her third term in the U. S Senate on Nov. 4.

She even traveled to a Colorado Bible institute, considering being a religious counselor working with college students and others.

“I really wanted to go into full-time Christian ministry work,” Landrieu said in an interview earlier this week.

“It just didn’t work out,” she said.

Landrieu said she then  returned to New Orleans and did volunteer work for a friend running for judge. Afterwards, friends urged her to run for the Louisiana House of Representatives.

“And then I just thought why not? Maybe I should try,” she said.

Landrieu won that race over a 12-year incumbent and three others candidates.

She joined the Legislature in 1980 at the age of 23, one of just three women lawmakers at the time.

Landrieu said she felt she was set apart for two reasons:  youth and gender.

“It was lonely,” she said of life in the Legislature. “We were discounted, marginalized.

“It was kind of what started the process of my being what people would describe as combative … tough.