Here's the annual list of 2008's most fascinating solo women, prepared for my website, sololady.com. Remember, women on this list are everything but married. Comments and additions are welcomed from the HuffPost community.
In alphabetical order:
Katie Couric -- Ever-perky, cougar-kitten Katie redeemed her previously lousy ratings with that masterful Palin interview. Just enough to expose inadequacies without being mean. Mean feat, 'you betcha'.
Mia Farrow - Her tireless effort to call attention to Chinese repression in Tibet is worthy of a shout-out. And her previous marriages to Frank Sinatra, Andre Previn, Woody Allen and her romance with Philip Roth make her the Alma Mahler of our time.
Dr. Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf- The first woman and 23rd president of Liberia. This divorced grandmother was inaugurated in 2006, and among her many progressive accomplishments has been edicting that education be free and compulsory for grade-school students.
Angelina Jolie - Just because she works for charities and hasn't yet married Brad Pitt, and easily could.
Madonna - Yes, she's single again. She morphs constantly and encourages change, for better or worse.
Rachel Maddow - Her new MSNBC political show is top-rated for good reason. She's smart, articulate and nice, and she furthers gay rights just by being so.
Janet Napolitano - Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell has said that our upcoming Head of Homeland Security doesn't have much of a life, but she climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro while Rendell was probably at his desk eating a Philly cheese steak.
Suze Orman - She influences the stock market, talks on Oprah and CNN, writes bestsellers, and chides us to take care of ourselves first.
Edna Parker -The world's oldest person for more than a year, she recently died at age 115 years, 220 days. Her husband died in 1939 and she lived alone in their farmhouse until age 100.
4/5 ofThe View -- This women's show did some of the toughest interviewing of the election, which says alot about the media. Barbara Walters, Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar and Sherri Sheppard are all in various states of single. The only one married is arch-conservative Elisabeth Hasselbeck. What does that tell you?
Arianna Huffington and Joan Walsh -- The queens of the blogosphere, single moms, and influential editors-in-chief: Arianna, fierce, fearless at huffingtonpost.com; Joan, soft-spoken, super smart at salon.com.