She may have entered the Missouri House of Representatives 30 years ago drawing comments about her long, blonde hair, but Claire McCaskill is a different kind of lady.
After building a reputation as a tough prosecutor and state auditor, she's been called a calculating lady, an aggressive lady and even a "commie babe liberal."
But to McCaskill, she's just helping to redefine who a lady is and what she can be.
McCaskill discussed her new memoir, "Plenty Ladylike," and signed copies of the book Monday night at Missouri River Regional Library. The book, co-authored with journalist Terry Ganey, was released Aug. 11. During the book-signing event, she also confirmed her intention to run for reelection to a third U.S. Senate term in 2018.
The book's title references one incidence of the political name-calling directed at McCaskill over the years - this time by former U.S. Rep. Todd Akin. After debating McCaskill before the 2012 U.S. Senate election, Akin said she had been "more ladylike" when she debated former U.S. Sen. Jim Talent in 2006 and she was "very aggressive" during their debate.
"We've got to change the definition of what ladylike is," McCaskill said Monday. "Yes, ladylike is being polite and being kind, but it's also being aggressive and having lots of ambition and being strategic and speaking out."
Akin is the subject of one of the memoir's more intriguing political revelations - that McCaskill dedicated $1.7 million to helping her Republican opponent win his party's nomination.
As she describes in "Plenty Ladylike," McCaskill believed Akin would be her weakest potential opponent because of his propensity for controversial statements. Her campaign funded television ads portraying Akin as "too conservative" with the intention of garnering votes for him from Missourians who wanted a far right-leaning Republican.
"I feel like it was a pretty straight-forward strategy, and I think that many of the people criticizing it are just mad that it worked," McCaskill said Monday. "It was a two-for ad because not only was I telling Republican primary voters why they should vote for Todd Akin, I was also disqualifying him with independent voters at the same time because the views that are popular in the base of his party are not popular with independent voters."
McCaskill said some have criticized her for being too "calculating" in her strategy, but she dismisses that idea as sexist in its root.
"I think that one of the problems women have is this notion that you don't rock the boat, that you don't push the envelope, that you don't take big risks. That may be a good way to stay in a secure job, but it's probably not the best way to achieve all that you can," McCaskill said. "When men are highly strategic, they get promoted. When women are highly strategic, they're called manipulative and gossiped about. That's unacceptable."
"Plenty Ladylike" delves into various other struggles McCaskill experienced as a woman in state and national politics over her decades-long career, including years in the Missouri House of Representatives, as Jackson County prosecutor and as state auditor. Those struggles include sexual harassment as a legislative intern and state lawmaker.
Now, on the heels of two female Missouri Capitol interns publicly accusing legislators of sexual misconduct in recent months, McCaskill believes their decision to report harassment shows progress for women, even if inappropriate behavior hasn't disappeared.
"Their courage in publicly confronting it resulted in two elected officials losing their careers. That will have a huge deterrent effect on the behavior in Jefferson City," McCaskill said.
She has met with one of the former interns, and the two are collaborating to form a hotline for Missouri government workers to receive information about their options confidentially without having to report their sexual harassment.
In addition to her various political triumphs, the book addresses McCaskill's family life - her first and second marriages, the births of her children, and campaigning with her mother - as well as her defeats - losing the 2004 Missouri gubernatorial election to Matt Blunt after upstaging Democratic incumbent Bob Holden in the primary. She also addresses the discovery she and her husband had failed to pay property taxes on her husband's airplane, which McCaskill had used for government-related travel for which she had been reimbursed.
She also discusses her decision to back President Barack Obama in the 2008 election, seemingly turning her back on a relationship with then-Sen. Hillary Clinton. The endorsement had political ramifications for McCaskill, but she stands by her decision that "he was an extraordinary man at an extraordinary time in history" who embodied the change Americans wanted.
McCaskill is backing Clinton for the 2016 presidential election. "She's more qualified today than she was in 2008 by a long run. I'm glad this one was easy," McCaskill said. "Equality means you don't pick a candidate just because they're a woman."
McCaskill announced in January she would not run for Missouri governor next year, although it was the position she had eyed since her teenage years. She cited a desire to remain in the U.S. Senate and would consider running for reelection when her term expires. When asked Monday night whether she would be "coming back" in 2018, she gave a thumbs up.
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