Connecticut's new Clean Elections program is having a positive effect on the number of women candidates who have chosen to seek office so the Secretary of State is calling 2008 the Year of the Woman. One hundred and two women will seek a seat in the General Assembly this year, more than any previous year.Many of Clean Elections' most vocal supporters are women candidates who found the system enabled them to capitalize on their community support and organizing abilities without requiring access to wealth:Local women running for office agreed Wednesday that women have come a long way and said women make strong candidates, due to their local connections. "A lot of politics, at the end of the day, is about relationships between people," said Elizabeth Esty, Democratic challenger in the 103rd District, "and women are very good at building relationships." Esty, of Cheshire, said female challengers will thrive using the state's new public campaign financing system. She said they can easily identify the network of small donors needed to become eligible for the public money. Many women, she said, develop "broad networks" through their local involvement on groups such as PTAs and religious organizations, which they can tap into as political candidates. The perception that women cannot raise money, she said, is not true. This progress at the state level, helped along by Clean Elections, could point the way to gains at the federal level.  Women still struggle to even the gender balance in Congress and despite the high-profile leadership of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), and the presence of both Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) on the presidential campaign trail this year there is much ground to be made up.