Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) speaks during day two of the Democratic National Convention..
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Sen. Hillary Clinton thanked her "sisterhood of the traveling pantsuits" in her speech at the Democratic National Convention on Tuesday.

Political columnist Katha Pollitt
Katha Pollitt's work has appeared in The New York Times, The New Yorker, Harper's and The Atlantic Monthly. Her "Subject to Debate" column appears biweekly in The Nation.

When Sen. Hillary Clinton conceded defeat in the Democratic presidential primary in June, she thanked her supporters for making 18 million cracks in the glass ceiling: "Light is shining through like never before," she said, "filling us all with the hope and the sure knowledge that the path will be a little easier next time."

Political columnist Katha Pollitt is in Denver, where thousands have gathered for the Democratic National Convention. She weighs in on the historic significance of Clinton's bid for the presidency.

"Some think Clinton's loss, and the psychodrama surrounding it, will set women back," Pollitt wrote in The Nation earlier this summer. "I think they're wrong. Love her or loathe her, the big story here is Americans saw a woman who was a serious, popular, major-party candidate."

In her much-anticipated speech at the convention on Tuesday, Clinton thanked her "sisterhood of the traveling pantsuits," her fiercely loyal supporters:

"My mother was born before women could vote," Clinton said. "But in this election, my daughter got to vote for her mother for president."

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