"National coverage of the 2008 presidential race offers enough drama to keep analysts busy. With the Democrats favored to win the national election as a result of the disastrous foreign and domestic policies of the Bush administration, many Americans have been looking forward to one or another historic first. The Democrats would nominate either a woman or an African American for president. Of course, third parties, including the Communist Party of the USA, have nominated women, African Americans, and other candidates of color in the past, but it seemed impossible just a year or two ago that a major party would make such a move. It is now clear that Barack Obama will receive the Democratic nomination. He faces a formidable opponent with all the resources American conservatives and reactionaries can muster to defeat him in the general election, but the fact is that a fairly liberal candidate who identifies and is identified as African American stands a good chance of winning the election and taking the United States in a different direction from the policies of the past decade. This is indeed a historic moment, and it is no wonder that this national story has grabbed all the headlines."(...)