electable

Ellen Goodman's posted up some interesting Newsweek numbers at the bottom of this piece. The current heartthrobs for Democratic nomination to President of the USA are people with faces distinctly different from those who have gone before. Their main problem is looking electable because everyone thinks "no one" would vote for them even though he/she would look past race or sex.

This electable issue is what it comes down to when I ask myself who it would be between these two. Should it be the woman the Republicans love to hate or the man who hasn't held public office for very long? Well, who got the vote first? That's who is more electable. It has nothing whatsoever to do with who they are.

But the Newsweek numbers are encouraging. Nearly everyone believes they would vote based on the person even if he/she is uncertain about the neighbor. Somewhat fewer would vote for a woman, but she didn't get the vote first either. Then again, the number of people I've heard say, "I'd vote for a woman, I just wouldn't vote for her," makes me wonder how many are honest with themselves when they say they would. If she were a man, would any of that bother them?