Let's dial up the Way Back Machine to the era where Geraldine Ferraro was running as the vice president nominee under Walter Mondale. At that time the New York Times editorialized:
“Where is it written that only senators are qualified to become President? … Or where is it written that mere representatives aren’t qualified, like Geraldine Ferraro of Queens? … Where is it written that governors and mayors, like Dianne Feinstein of San Francisco, are too local, too provincial? … Presidential candidates have always chosen their running mates for reasons of practical demography, not idealized democracy … What a splendid system, we say to ourselves, that takes little-known men, tests them in high office and permits them to grow into statesmen … Why shouldn’t a little-known woman have the same opportunity to grow?
For once I find myself agreeing with the New York Times. Unfortunately they know longer hold that opinion.