A black woman prez?

Dan brings up a point about the '08 election.

A large part of this country doesn't want to see a woman or a black man in the White House. Right or wrong, it's the truth. A lot of people will be less willing to vote for them on that alone.

I agree with him to a point. Americans seem to be racist and sexist. That is particularly true in the South, which is why the issue is rather irrelevant to the '08 elections.

For example, Texas is a red-neck racist/sexist state. If the Republicans put up David Duke versus Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama.. guess who would win? In that sense, it makes no difference if the Democratic candidate is a woman or an African-American. They're going to lose Texas (and a number of other southern states) regardless. The Kool-aid is pipped into the water supply.

However, on the average, would Americans prefer an old man like McCain over a black man? Would Americans prefer a serial adulterer rather than a woman? Thankfully, the answer is no.

The first number is the percentage that would vote for, the second is would not vote for.

Catholic 95 4

Black 94 5

Jewish 92 7

A woman 88 11

Hispanic 87 12

Mormon 72 24

Married for the third time 67 30

72 years of age 57 42

A homosexual 55 43

An atheist 45 53

As we can see, John McCain has about the same chance of getting elected as a gay guy. Not very good. The odds don't improve for the thrice married Giuliani. Then, you factor in that the conservatives really don't like either, and you can see that the Republicans are doomed in '08.

I still think Al Gore will enter the race at some point, and Obama will be his VP, and it'll be a route. I have no evidence to support, but my sense is that Americans feel they have much to atone for. There's no better way to do that then to elect the same guy they elected the first time.