In contrast, Warren noted, “The only people on this stage who have won every single election that they’ve been in are the women — Amy and me. And the only person who has beaten an incumbent Republican any time in the past 30 years is me.”

Klobuchar, a third-term senator from Minnesota, said you don’t need to be male to win just as you don’t need other qualities pronounced necessary or optimal by some unnamed, amorphous committee of pronouncers. “You don’t have to be the skinniest person in the room,” she said. “You don’t have to be the loudest person. You have to be competent.”

“And when you look at what I have done,” she added, “I have won every race, every place, every time. I have won in the reddest of districts. I have won in the suburban areas, in the rural areas.” That, she added, was why she had “the most endorsements of current Iowa legislators and former Iowa legislators in this race.”

I don’t mean to romanticize Warren and Klobuchar. Warren’s boast about vanquishing a Republican incumbent? That incumbent was Scott Brown, whose victory in a special election in deep blue Massachusetts was considered something of a freak occurrence to begin with.

And when Klobuchar began to tick off the names of women recently elected to high posts, she suddenly froze, unable to remember who the governor of Kansas was, though she’d just said, “I’m very proud to know her.” (Her name is Laura Kelly.)

I’m also not saying that Warren or Klobuchar would be the party’s best bet. I don’t know who would be. I’m just saying that on a night when the viability of women aiming for the White House went from subtext to text, these two women found words — not just in addressing that issue but also in talking about prescription-drug prices, climate change, nuclear weapons and more — that exposed the bigotry and shamefulness of doubts about female candidates.