Mikulski and the historic 1984 VP selection

Mikulski was influential in this barrier-breaking VP pickWhile it is a faint memory now, there was speculation up until the early summer of 1984 that then-Rep. Barbara Mikulski would make a good running mate for the Democratic presidential nominee.

She was one of three women House members considered for the job, the others being Pat Schroeder of Colorado and the female frontrunner, Geraldine Ferraro of New York. Outside Congress, two minor office-holders who would go on to national prominence -- San Francisco Mayor Diane Feinstein and Texas State Treasurer Ann Richards -- were also considered.

While the primary battle between Walter Mondale and Gary Hart wore on, Mikulski pressed for the eventual nominee to consider a woman. She even wrote an op-ed in the New York Times of how she hoped a woman would be the nominee while lamenting that "the current enthusiasm for a woman Vice President could ultimately look like tokenism," and if a woman were not chosen, they should "not misdirect the justifiable anger we feel toward President [Ronald] Reagan."

Unlike after the primaries were settled in 2008, Mikulski was bold with the party's presumptive nominee on taking a woman as his running mate. She and other women Democrats met privately with Mondale on the matter, telling him "there could be a floor fight on this" at the convention -- which was less than two weeks away at that point.

A few days later, Mondale named Mikulski a national co-chair of his campaign. A week later, he went public with his pick of Ferraro.