The Rising Star from Queens

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She made a rare misstep earlier this month, one that stemmed from her tendency to put the Democratic Party first and foremost. At a breakfast meeting with reporters, she said the platform committee would draft a succinct thematic document, avoiding controversial planks "that can be used against us." She explained that specific legislation would not be mentioned by name, and cited "H J Res 1" as an example. The innocuous-sounding bill turned out to be the Equal Rights Amendment, and word of its planned omission caused a furor among women's groups. Ferraro's office was forced to issue a retraction that same afternoon.

But by and large, Ferraro manages to hold strong views without causing extreme reactions. She is liberal (the Americans for Democratic Action gives her a 75% rating), but not too liberal for her ethnic working-class district, which gave her 73% of the vote in 1982. She is vehemently against deployment of the MX missile, though she supported its development under President Carter. She opposes mandatory school busing, supports tuition tax credits and favors a military draft. On abortion she is pro-choice as a matter of public policy. As a matter of conscience, she is against abortion. "I'm a Catholic," she says, "and I accept the teachings of my faith." But in fact, Ferraro admits she is not against abortion in cases of rape and has mixed feelings about the problem of pregnancy in young girls. A strong advocate of the ERA, Ferraro has focused on women's economic needs: a bill she co-sponsored liberalizing pensions, especially for women, was passed in the House last week. Says New York Mayor Ed Koch: "She's part of the Democratic mainstream."

Ferraro's journey to the mainstream was anything but routine. Born in Newburgh, N.Y., she was doted on by her Italian immigrant father, a prosperous restaurateur. During her first year he celebrated her birthday every month, lavishing dolls and frilly dresses on the little girl. When he died of a heart attack, Ferraro, then eight, was devastated. She was gravely ill with anemia for a year. Facing reduced circumstances, her mother Antonetta moved Geraldine and her brother Carl (now with New York City's human resources administration) to the South Bronx and took a job in the garment district crocheting beads on dresses. Urged on by her mother, Ferraro won successive scholarships to Marymount School in Tarrytown, N.Y., and Marymount College in Manhattan. While working as a second-and fourth-grade teacher in a Queens public school, she took night law classes at Fordham University, with financial help from her mother. The Congresswoman still uses her maiden name as a gesture of gratitude. Her mother remains an almost daily phone confidante and a shameless booster. Says the elder Ferraro: "Geraldine is such a hard worker. What honor she does me!"

After she married Real Estate Developer John Zaccaro three days after passing the bar examination, Ferraro's law career came second to raising her three children. She worked part time in her husband's office and, incurably active, dropped in on the local Democratic club on her way home from PTA meetings and children's ballet classes.