Is the stage being set for America to choose which female will be the first female president of the United States? Secretary of State and Republican Condoleezza Rice against the Democratic Senator from New York, Hillary Rodham Clinton?

The United States of America has never elected a female head of state, but 2008 could be historic. The seeds of change were planted in last week, as two leading female political figures are making world tours and becoming very visible to the American public. These two educated and politically established women are well known to the American public and should make the presidential race of 2008 very interesting.

The possibilities seem to be growing with each passing year as the new female leadership from both political parties rises. America is the last democracy not to have elected a female vice president or president. Has the time come for a change?

The first step in this historic process is the election of the first female Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi of California. The political glass ceiling is breaking into little pieces with this election. Pelosi will be third in line to be president if Bush or Cheney cannot perform their duties.

The American public already has witnessed fictional female presidents, executives on television and the movies. The lost space fleet of Battlestar Gallactica 2003-2004 (Sci-Fi channel) and the new show Commander and Chief 2005 (ABC). Both fictional Presidents show great leadership qualities and give the country a chance to view what this country would be like under female leadership. And since TV and movies are almost reality for this nation, maybe the media is helping groom us for a female president in the very near future--2008?

History tells us that there were many female politicians vying for the highest office in America. All made a very valiant effort, but the United States did not seem ready for that change. The first was in 1872, Victoria Claflin Woodhull ran for the presidency, with her African American running mate Fredrick Douglass.

African American pioneers Shirley Chisholm, 1972 Democrat from New York, New Alliance Party leader Lenora Fulani 1984, 1988, and 1994, and the most recent African American woman Carol Moseley Braun, 2000 Democrat from Illinois.

Two other strong and vocal ladies, Pasty Mink (an Asian American from Hawaii) and Bella Abzug, from New York representing the Jewish community, tried to win their party’s nomination in 1972; both pulled out in the last weeks of the campaign however.

In 2000, Elizabeth Dole made a serious bid to achieve the Republican presidential nominee but pulled her name out just before the national convention convened. There have also been many other African American female socialist and communist presidential candidates over the last 60 years--too many to list here. Females have been beating a path to the White House; it seems that this time will be the right time.

Both parties have finally realized that 54% of the voting populous is female. These female voters are finally making their collective voices heard at the ballot box. President Bush got the message this year when the Democrats gained both Houses and the majority of States Governors.

Is the stage now set for Democratic Senator Hillary Clinton of New York and Republican Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to face off in November 2008? Will these two political opposites lead their parties in the fall of 2008? When this occurs they will decide which road America’s path will be. The question is, will Ms. Clinton’s Democratic liberal left or Ms. Rice’s conservative Christian right win. One of these strong women would have to win, so history is in the offing.

The Democratic Party National Convention will convene to nominate their presidential candidate first. If or when the Democratic were to nominate Ms. Clinton as their choice in July, would the Republican Party respond in kind with their own female candidate, Ms. Rice, in August, and thus set the stage for a same gender ideological “tete a tete” in November? The National Black Republican Association has already nominated Rice for this task. 

African American voters would be the key to this historic election. Republicans are hoping that putting a prominent African American at the head of their ticket would sway other African American voters away from the Democratic Party.

The Democratic Party will be counting on minority and black female voters to outnumber Republican white female voters; this was the case this November. Democrats will also count on African American voters to keep Democrats in power. Democrats know that 10% of southern white male voters would never vote for Ms. Rice because she is African American; this could be a  problem for the Republican Party if they want to stay at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

In turn, the Republican Religious Right will never vote for Ms. Clinton because of her stand on woman’s rights and the right to choose, thus canceling out each other’s voting block, leaving the moderate and independent voter to decide the fate of America.

Both parties would have leading political males in the background trying to gain influence in their parities' campaign. These powerful and influential men would be courting disenchanted voters with their party’s presidential choice and would do or say anything to undermine each other's campaign. These political savvy men would not be happy because they would not be calling the shots, which they have done for the last 270 years. It would be a time of change.

This would put a serious crimp in the Military Industrial Complex in and put a serious halt on the American based capitalistic war economy. Whichever woman steps into the White House, American domestic and foreign policies would be changed.

Whether men like it or not American history will continue to progress toward change. America has finally moved into the future like many other nations with the possibility of a female leader

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