By: Nicole Perry

When Patricia Murphy felt that women should learn more about election 2008, she chose to do something about it. She founded CitizenJanePolitics.com, "the modern girl's guide to picking the leaders of the free world" - a blog updated daily with information, news and video interviews with people like the candidates themselves and people close to the campaigns, like Matt Lauer and Elizabeth Edwards. Murphy recently answered some questions via e-mail about the website.

What is your political experience, and why were you inspired by it to make CitizenJanePolitics.com?
I worked in the U.S. Senate for nine years, starting out entry level and finishing as a communications director and speech writer. Seeing politics from the inside out gave me an incredible perspective about how much of our lives are touched by government and how dangerous it is for voters to check out and stop paying attention to what's happening around them. I want CJP to make is easy for busy women to pay attention.

What is your goal in making women learn more about politics? How do you plan to make this happen?
My impression is that many women aren't engaged in politics, not because they don't care about issues, but because they don't have a lot of time to wade through all the information out there. I designed Citizen Jane Politics to be a quick, deep resource for women to check in on the day's top stories, to see where candidates stand on issues, and to figure out when and where to vote. I leave the opinions to the audience.

How many people have approached you and congratulated you on the website? What do people usually tell you?
I'm not sure how many people have approached me, but the response has been overwhelming. Women (and men) have emailed me to thank me for starting the site and for giving them straight, basic information. I usually write them back and say thank YOU for reading. I've also had several requests for CJP tee-shirts, which is hilarious. I'm working on that now.

When you were creating the website, what sorts of things did you think about before getting started?
I thought about what already existed in the online political community and what I could offer that would be different. I also did a good bit of research to see what women were looking for in terms of content, if they would read a political site, what they wanted to see on a site and what they wanted not to see. Talking to real women with busy lives who liked the concept convinced me that CJP could work.

What about the design - how did you want to make that different from other political websites? What about the website's content?
I thought very much about the look and feel of the site. I wanted it to be clearly designed to appeal to women and I wanted the tone to be friendly and inviting. Those were two key elements that were missing on every political site I visited. I based the illustrations on real women I know to make the site reflect the concept that CJP is a community of friends. I even scanned in pictures of the clothes I wanted them to be wearing so that they would be stylish but not frivolous.

Most importantly, I wanted the look and feel to be backed up by deep substance. So many sites for women are primarily shopping and gossip. I wanted CJP to be the brainy girl in the class.

Now that the website is up, what do you plan to talk about as the election goes on? Do you plan to keep the website after 2008?
I have traveled to Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina to cover the early primary states, and will continue to travel, hopefully to the conventions and wherever the campaigns take the story. I plan to keep the site going as long as there is demand for it and it is serving its purpose of helping more women become engaged in the political process. So that's 2008 and beyond.

What do you see for women in the 2008 election?
For women in 2008, I see a central role in choosing the next president of the United States. Having been in rooms full of all-male political consultants before other elections, I can tell you that's a new place for women to be. It's exciting, but also an enormous responsibility, and I hope CJP will be a resource for women as they make their decisions.

 For more information: www.CitizenJanePolitics.com

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