Barbara Boxer.

• Author: Conniff, Ruth
• Position: Interview

In her third term in the U.S. Senate, Barbara Boxer, Democrat of California, has come out swinging, the most visible and vocal opponent of the Republicans and George W. Bush in Washington, D.C. The petite, Brooklyn-born grandmother won a landslide reelection victory in 2004, receiving the third-highest number of votes in the nation, right behind John Kerry and George W. Bush. She wasted no time before she got down to the business of opposing the President. On January 6, she joined Representative Stephanie Tubbs Jones, Democrat of Ohio, in objecting to the certification of Ohio's electoral votes in the 2004 Presidential election. It was the beginning of what activists dubbed "The Boxer Rebellion." On Valentine's Day, fans sent 4,500 roses to Boxer's office, as thanks for her stand against voter disenfranchisement and for talking back to the Bush Administration. She hasn't let them down since.

In her celebrated clash with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice during Rice's confirmation hearings, Boxer turned what was supposed to be a cakewalk into an aggressive inquiry into Rice's role in misleading the public into the 2003 invasion of Iraq. She also opposed Bush's Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, pointing to his memos condoning torture.

Shortly after we spoke, Boxer made national news for her role in trying to scuttle John Bolton's nomination as Bush's ambassador to the U.N. She managed to delay a floor vote, citing the State Department's failure to provide the Democrats with adequate information on Bolton's intimidation of State Department staff, among other issues.

Born November 11, 1940, Boxer studied economics at Brooklyn College, married Stewart Boxer, a lawyer, shortly after graduation, and went to work as a stockbroker on Wall Street.

As an active opponent of the Vietnam War, she volunteered on Eugene McCarthy's 1968 campaign. In 1972, she made her first run for public office, for a seat on the Matin County Board of Supervisors on an environmental platform. The fact that she had two young children at home became an issue in the campaign, and she lost--in part, because voters thought she belonged at home with the kids. Four years later, in 1976, she ran again and won, largely thanks to the support of women.

Throughout her political career, Boxer has been both a trailblazer and a champion for women's rights.

As a member of Congress, she was one of seven women who marched to the Senate to demand a fair hearing of Anita Hill's accusations of sexual harassment by Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas. Boxer won her Senate seat in the 1992 "Year of the Woman" election, and played a pivotal role in her colleague Bob Packwood's demise after revelations that he was an infamous sexual harasser.

While she is a figurehead for the left in Washington, among her constituents on the left coast, she is not too far out on the progressive end of the political spectrum. She disappointed some when she chose not to support San Francisco's legalization of gay marriage and was roundly criticized by the San Francisco Bay Guardian for supporting the privatization of the Presidio.

Still, in endorsing her, the Guardian wrote, "Her voting record is consistently the most progressive in the Senate." She voted against NAFTA and fast track, against the resolution authorizing the use of force in Iraq, and she has been a tireless advocate for abortion rights and an enthusiastic supporter of gun control.

On the flip side, Boxer voted for the Patriot Act (while calling for future amendments to fix provisions that trampled on civil liberties) and supported three strikes legislation and the war on drugs.

During the week...