Candidate-training programs also are reporting an upsurge in enrollment. Jean Sinzdak, associate director of the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University and head of Ready to Run, a national training program for female candidates, says interest in the program "is unlike anything we've seen before." Registrations are coming in about three times faster than usual, and many would-be candidates are being placed on waiting lists. "There is a new energy," Sinzdak says. Women who had not been politically active say they "cannot sit on the sidelines anymore."