By: Marc H. Morial
President and CEO
National Urban League
The 2006 mid-term elections paved the way for the most diverse leadership in the
history of the U.S. Congress, where several U.S. lawmakers of color assumed
leadership roles. Now, the 2008 presidential election promises to provide more
historical firsts, even if the Republican Party maintains its hold of the White House.
The candidate field is already the most diverse in the nation's history in terms of
gender, race, ethnic background and religion. In the past, the serious presidential
contender pool, with the exception of the Rev. Jesse Jackson in 1988, has tended to
be white and male. Not to slight the Rev. Al Sharpton or former U.S. Sen. Carol
Moseley Braun, who have run for president in the past, but 2008 will mark the first year
in which a woman (Sen. Hillary Clinton), a black (Sen. Barack Obama) and an Hispanic
(New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson) have a serious chance of winning their party's
nomination. There is even a Mormon in former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney
running for the GOP nomination.
And with this historical first comes another
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