On this week’s “Behind the Politics” we learn that state Sen. Rhonda Fields is more than the hard-charging advocate for crime victims and human rights you see in the news.

The statehouse dynamo of passion and grace is a proud grandma who loves Southern cooking and kitchen gadgets. And she gets revved up by saying the Pledge of Allegiance.

Fields, the six-year member of the House who won a seat in the Senate last November, chatted with caucus staffers Jill Mullen and David Pourshoushtari in the podcast on the Senate Democrats’ Facebook page.

Pourshoushtari pointed out that the Democratic caucus in the Senate has more women (nine) than men (eight). Fields said the political conversation needed more female voices.

“It shapes our politics,” Fields said. “It shapes who we are as a state, and when you have women at the table we’re going to bring that perspective.”

She advised women thinking about politics to take the plunge and believe in themselves.

“I think the first thing is you have to push beyond any negative doubt or concern,” Fields said.

She was asked, as all Senate Democrats are on the podcast, to talk about their most embarrassing legislative moment.

On the first day of the session, Fields was asked to lead the upper chamber in the Pledge of Allegiance. In the House chamber, legislators cheer at the end pledge each morning. She went up on the Senate president’s podium and dove right in. In the House the pledge is led from the speaker’s perch.

At the end, Fields clapped, but no else did. Senate President Kevin Grantham told her that’s not how they do it in the Senate, and the pledge is led from the speaker’s well and pointed down to it, she said.

“I felt really ashamed,” Fields said. “And I was baffled why we wouldn’t clap and celebrate the Pledge of Allegiance.”

Pourshoushtari consoled her by pointing o ut she wasn’t alone with an early learning curve. Sen. Daniel Kagan, D-Cherry Hills Village, another transplant from the House, once referred to Grantham as “Mr. Speaker.”

In terms of House-Senate rivalry, that’s like calling John Elway “Mr. Raider.” Just refer to the Senate as the “upper chamber” while you’re standing in a crowd in the House chamber, and you’ll see what I’m talking about.