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Monday, May 11, 2015

In 2016 race, Republicans have all the diversity

In 2016 race, Republicans have all the diversity

Funny thing happened on the 2016 road to the White House: The party of “old white guys” stopped being so old, white or just guys. It even has a fair bit of debate over issues.

In the last three weeks, officially jumping into the Republican nomination contest:

  •   Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.), son of Cuban parents and a leader on immigration reform.
  •  Dr. Ben Carson, a brilliant African-American neurosurgeon.
  •  Carly Fiorina, the first woman to run a Fortune 500 company.
  •  Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, whose populist economic views differ a fair bit from other GOPers.

They join a pack that already includes Tea Party favorite Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, whose father fled Castro’s Cuba, and Rand Paul of Kentucky, who questions GOP orthodoxies from crime to foreign policy.

All-but-announced is Florida ex-Gov. Jeb Bush — who engages the party base on education and immigration and whose own family is as multicultural as Bill de Blasio’s.

That’s true “diversity”: the kind the bean-counters measure, and also real ideological divisions.

By contrast, Hillary Clinton faces a cakewalk among the Democrats. Her only serious announced opponent is Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders — who vows to challenge her from the left.

If he announces, Maryland ex-Gov. Martin O’Malley would do the same.

Not a great showing for a party that claims to stand for diversity and to speak to the aspirations of people of color.

And, by the way, the Republican field’s average age is 54 to the Democrats’ 64.

The GOP: Not all old, not all white — and not all guys. Toss the stereotypes aside.

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