Presidential Candidates Crowd the Field for a Long Race to November '08 (1/2)

The next presidential election in the United States is in November of 2008. But a crowd of candidates and possible candidates is forming early for what is seen as one of the most wide open races in many years.

The last election without a sitting president or vice president as a candidate was either in 1952 or 1928. Political experts disagree" class="hjdict" word="disagree" target=_blank>disagree. In any case, President Bush is constitutionally barred from a third term. And Vice President Dick Cheney says he will not be a candidate for president.

Every president and vice president has been white and male. The current group of candidates includes a woman, Hillary Rodham Clinton; an African-American, Barack Obama; a Latino, Bill Richardson; and a Mormon, Mitt Romney.

The diversity " class="hjdict" word="diversity " target=_blank>diversity may not mean much to people who are waiting to hear more about candidates' positions. But others may feel conflictingloyalties. A black teenager in Washington, D.C., is excited that she will be old enough to vote in her first presidential election. She says that as a woman, she hopes Hillary Clinton will win. But as an African-American, she hopes Barack Obama will win.