Comments by male pundits and political analysts about Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton have so often crossed the line that, by now, even a seemingly innocent metaphor can get a guy in trouble.

Consider a recent incident in which MSNBC's Keith Olbermann, host of "Countdown," was talking to a guest about the likelihood of Clinton being persuaded by a Democratic Party official to drop out of the presidential race.

Olbermann said it would take "somebody who can take her into a room and only he comes out."

Oops. Huffington Post blogger Rachel Sklar took Olbermann into "a room" for that comment.

"What does that mean?" Sklar wrote. "Really, it can only mean one thing: beating the [expletive] out of Hillary Clinton, until she is physically incapable of getting up and walking out."

Olbermann apologized on-air the next day, admitting he should have made his statement gender-neutral and politics-specific. His verbal flub may have gone unnoticed if he wasn't on MSNBC, which is closely monitored by liberal watchdogs for sexist treatment of Clinton, attributed mostly to "Hardball" host Chris Matthews (example: "Let's not forget, and I'll be brutal ... the reason she's a candidate for president, the reason she may be a front-runner, is that her husband messed around.").

But it's a perceived media problem that goes beyond that, and even beyond the predictable jibes of conservative commentators like Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh.

"Nobody's analyzing the timbre of the voice of the male candidates," says News 14 Carolina reporter Shelvia Dancy. "No one's analyzing even what they wear. No one's analyzing whether they're tough enough for the job, yet still soft enough to be a woman."

It's been all over the mainstream media -- serious talk about Clinton's clothes, her looks, the sound of her voice, her cackle, her lack of emotion or showing too much emotion when she teared up in New Hampshire.

Treating her differently

The observation -- that Hillary Clinton gets treated differently by the media than male politicians do -- isn't lost on female journalists, media watchers and political leaders around the Triangle.

"I remember reading and hearing things -- comments made about Hillary Clinton's attire and the pants and is that flattering, and what would her wardrobe be if she was the president, and all these things," says WTVD news anchor Angela Hampton. "I just don't think it's appropriate."

Pat Hawkins, leader of Democratic Women of Wake County, says not all topics of discussion are necessarily sexist on the surface -- discussion of Clinton's voice, for example.

"I can understand that," she says. "I was just listening to her, and she had a quality to her voice that isn't pleasing, especially when she gets going. I can see where they would pick that up. But on the other hand, when you look at her, I see a strong woman, or strong person who happens to be a woman. I don't equate the quality of her voice with what kind of president she's going to be, if she wins the nomination."

Talk, talk, talk

Lois Boynton, associate professor at the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Journalism and Mass Communication, sees a culture struggling clumsily with something many other countries have already experienced: the possibility of a female leader.

"That's kind of a first," she says. "We've not looked at issues of being a woman or being a man in a presidential race because it's never been an issue. It's not a topic of conversation to say, 'This is a white guy running for president.' It's something new. People haven't figured out how to talk about it yet."

Dancy sees a nonstop information culture that talks too much about nothing.

"Instead of letting a story just pop up once and die, especially with the 24-hour cable shows, these stories are just beaten to death," she says. "The topics are just discussed ad nauseam."

In Clinton's case, she's gotten a bit of a break from the media recently, thanks to bad press for rival Barack Obama and her win in Pennsylvania.

Conservative commentators have mostly laid off the gender talk now that they're rooting (wink-wink) for Clinton over Obama and praising her as a "fighter" worthy of a seat at the boys' club.

Hawkins doesn't expect that to last if Clinton lands the nomination.

"I don't buy it," she says, laughing. "No, thanks."