Today’s Chicago Tribune reported on a new voter bloc that politicians are starting to take notice of (finally)—women entrepreneurs.

Women own an estimated 10.6 million--or 47.7 percent--of the privately held U.S. companies, generating more than $2.4 trillion in sales and employing 19 million people, according to the Center for Women's Business Research. Since 1997, the growth of women-owned firms has outpaced the growth of businesses run by men by 14 percent, the center's data show.

Women entrepreneurs turn out in big numbers on Election Day. Nearly 90 percent vote in local, state and national elections, a study conducted last fall by Women Impacting Public Policy, a bipartisan group that represents women in business and women business owners, showed. In 2000, 61 percent of all women voted in the general election, according to the Census Bureau.

Sounds good, right? Well, maybe… Even as near to the election as we are, the women’s “business vote” is still too close to call. Though a Fortune Small Business magazine poll puts Kerry at 50 percent and Bush at 44 percent—thank goodness for some good news.