IN RECORD NUMBERS, WOMEN POLITICAL CANDIDATES LOOK TO THE FUTURE

The rooster, many agree, is the traditional political establishment--white, male and wealthy, with a reputation for neglecting women's issues. Promising to deliver and pledging to bring change, women candidates are flooding Federal and state ballots this year. And many suggest that this year's election results could permanently alter the pecking order of government goals and programs.

On both sides of the political fence, women candidates have garnered much attention in this year's campaign. In part, their sheer quantity is enough to turn heads. Record numbers of women are running for Federal offices, and the trend continues on the state level. According to Karen L. Uminski, a Democratic candidate for the Massachusetts House of Representatives, 73 women are running for the State's lower house this year--twice as many as ran two years ago.

The local numbers may be even more significant, Uminski says. "State representatives are the farm team," she says. "It's where a lot of people cut their teeth."

Today's state legislators, she says, will likely be tomorrow's Congressional and gubernatorial candidates. And the more women elected to state offices today, the more will be represented in higher offices in the future.

"More doors open up to you as you progress," Uminksi says. The result, she predicts, will be a "permanent change in our political structure."

As important as the size of the woman candidate pool, however, are the reasons for its dramatic increase. Many observers say some outside force--or forces--must have prompted a change this significant.

The Senate Judiciary Committee hearings on Justice Clarence Thomas' alleged sexual harassment of Anita Hill sent a rallying call to women politicians, says Wendy Kaminer, a visiting scholar at Radcliffe's Schlesinger Library.

Kaminer's recent Atlantic Monthly article, "Crashing the Locker Room," explores this new trend in politics.

"The Thomas-Hill hearings really did activate a lot of women," Kaminer says. "The women who were angered by the proceedings were deeply angered."

And anger often leads to action. The resurgence of popular feminism--much of it sparked by Hill's allegations--may "propel more women to the polls," Kaminer says.

Abortion, too, catalyzes female political involvement. Uminksi, 27, a former aide to Rep. Peter Vellucci, decided to run after Vellucci announced his retirement this spring. Uminski says she wanted to ensure that the abandoned seat remained a strong voice for abortion rights.

"Our legislature is very anti-choice," Uminski says, "so to lose one pro-choice seat was really a little much for us to bear."

Uminski's best-known opponent, Cambridge City Councillor Timothy J. Toomey, says he is pro-choice. But Uminski supporters say they have questions about how deep Toomey's commitment runs, citing his refusal to support a city council order endorsing the most recent Washington march by pro-choice supporters.

Uminski says her experience canvassing this year has taught her that abortion affects voter turnout, as well. Uminski once worked as a campus coordinator for Mass Choice, an abortion-rights advocacy group. Many college women, she says, became more politically active as they grew involved in the abortion debate. "It is symbolic," she explains. "People aren't used to having their rights taken away from them."

In its power as a litmus test, abortion is unusual, Kaminer says. Strong opinions on abortion can induce voters to abandon their party loyalties.

"Women may cross party lines to vote on the abortion issue before they will cross party lines to vote for another woman candidate," Kaminer says.

Voting against party ties does not happen often, Kaminer says. And predicting the way the female electorate will vote is not as simplistic as it may seem. Pressing issues and a perceived need for greater female involvement can lead a woman to the voting booth, she says, but they can't necessarily make her vote a certain way. Issues, race, ethnicity and geography influence voter decisions, and gender is "just one piece on the chessboard."

"Women candidates had better not rely on women voting for them on account of sex." she says. "For the most part, they do not."

The law of numbers, however, says that if the current trend continues, more and more women will run for office--and women, over time, will hold more and more legislative seats.

And Radcliffe President Linda S. Wilson, who has tried to propel Radcliffe further into the realm of public policy, predicts "some reordering of priorities as women become involved and a more critical mass within the legislative bodies."

It is hard to project how the government will change as its ranks are increasingly filled by women. And Kaminer is quick to issue another caveat. "Women are not monolithic," she says. "It is very unrealistic, and it is almost insulting, to expect women [legislators] to vote the same way."

Politicians, Kaminer says, are overwhelmingly loyal to their parties. "It is still a general rule in politics that people will vote with their party," she says, noting that Nancy Kassebaum (R-Kan.), one of two women Senators at the time of the Thomas hearings, "voted as a Republican" in favor of Thomas' nomination.

But one quality may apply to all women candidates. "They may take different positions on women's issues," Kaminer says, "but they will pay more attention to them."

Women politicians may place special emphasis on issues like sexual harassment and child care, Kaminer says.

Wilson adds family and child welfare, health and education to Kaminer's list of issues. In addition, she says, women "tend to look very carefully at relationship," and want to "sustain the quality of the relationship for the long term."

California State Treasurer kathleen Brown told Democratic delegates gathered last Tuesday that women are "more open in our leadership, more human and more inclusive... because of who we are and what we've experienced as women."

Radcliffe Trustee Honey Skinner says the law of numbers alone may not be enough to turn women candidates into women officeholders. To help provide outside assistance for Republican women, Skinner co-founded, and currently directs, the Women's Leadership Network, a year-old organization that supports women Republican candidates.

A Washington lawyer, Skinner works with the Women's Leadership Council to talk to Republican women and encourage the advancement of women in the party. Other organizations, including the bipartisan Emily's List, work to drum up funding and support for female Candidates--providing what Skinner thinks is a much-needed boost.

"Politics has traditionally been a very male-dominated place," says Skinner, whose husband, Samuel L. Skinner, is the White House chief of staff.

Skinner notes that it is "very difficult to raise money if you're a woman."

Uminski agrees that women come to campagins with financial disadvantages. "Women make 60 cents to every dollar a man makes," she says. Therefore, she says, they have less disposable income to donate to political candidates.

In addition, Kaminer's article lists a host of stereotypes that may work against women in their bids for office: they lack the experience to manage foreign affairs, the aptitude to lead the military and the reliability to handle fiscal matter.

But for every drawback, it seems, some feminine quality makes them appear better suited for office. And the mere fact that women are women--and aren't white males--may be enough to tip the balance.

In a year when widespread desire for change nearly lead to a three-way Presidential race. Different is often desirable. Uminski says she expected her youth and her gender to be liabilities--but has found them to be among her greatest assets.

Uminski believes women have appeal "just because we're not a part of the political establishment...people are so tired of all of the same and more of the same."

At last week's convention, Democratic leaders, promoting a renewed mission for their party, tried to capitalize on the widespread desire for change.

All last week, the Democratic Party tried to present itself as a party of women and for women. Hillary R. Clinton's chocolate-chip and oatmeal cookies, distributed to delegates and journalists in Madison Square Garden, were only part of that effort. More important was the pro-choice, pro-woman rhetoric that inundated the convention. More important was the parade of women Senatorial and Congressional candidates that went before the assembled delegates and journalists.

The emphasis on women, according to Democratic National Committee chair Ronald H. Brown, is in some ways a part of the political game.

"Women are the majority of voters in America," Brown said at the convention last Monday. There are major differences between Democrats and Republicans on child care, choice and parental leave, he said. "We're on the right side of the issues...we're going to highlight these issues."

Beyond this year's election, Democratic leaders last week said they see a pattern of ascendance for women in politics.

"I believe that women will be a majority of those elected this year to the United States Senate and I also believe that women will someday be a majority of the United States Senate," said Senator Edward M. Kennedy '54-'56 (D-Mass.)

Former Texas Representative Barbara Jordan noted a trend toward a day when the party would nominate "Madame President."

This year may be the one to bring women into the government in larger numbers than before. But numbers, Wilson says, are only part of the battle. New women officeholders "will be inexperienced, relatively speaking and have to earn their stripes."

It will take years before they gain seniority, become chairs of important committees and shed some of the negative stereotypes traditionally attached to women politicians.

"Changes come about by increments," Wilson says, "not by great huge leaps."

But today's small changes could have a giant effect on the young generation of women voters--students and recent graduates who, current leaders predict, will someday find greater opportunity for their own political advancement.

Ira E. Stoll contributed to the reporting of this article while covering the Democratic Convention in New York.