Chisme is trying to get his wind back after all of those brick bats thrown his way on Tuesday after trying to play nice in talking about Brownsville’s new mayor. Deep breaths, people, it will be OK. This is a somewhat daily dash of opinion offered by your humble servant, who is based in the Rio  Grande Valley, so if Chisme throws in a Spanish word in here and there for flavor, it ain’t the end of the world. For you high folluters who deride mixing the two languages, ni modo, go to the Wall Street Journal’s website for the intellectual stimulation you may be seeking.

Back here in the real world, did any of you watch or hear about the latest Democratic presidential debate? The pundits were hailing the event as the first such debate that used an array of questions from You Tubers on the Internet. One fellow even asked his question in the form of a song. The questions were clear and direct for the most part, with little of the verbal multi-layering that the journalist types indulge in at these events.

The new age debate fits in with the new age Democratic presidential contest, in which the two frontrunners are a woman, (Hillary Clinton), and an African-American with a diverse background, (Barack Obama). Another candidate is a Mexican-American, (Bill Richardson). Clinton and Obama are household names at this point, and Richardson is not, but the New Mexico governor is creeping up on John Edwards in some polls, and is moving up on the money contribution list as well.

A recent Newsweek magazine article asked: “How Accepting Are American Voters?” It showed a wide disparity between what individual Americans said they are willing to support in presidential candidates versus what they believe the country will do as a whole. For example, 85 percent of poll respondents said they would vote for a woman for president, but believe only 58 percent of their countrymen and women are willing to do so.

Over 90 percent said they would vote for an African-American candidate for president, but only 59 percent believe the country is ready to do so. It’s even worse for a Hispanic candidate. Eighty percent said they would vote for a Hispanic for president, with only 40 percent believing the country is ready to do so.

So what’s up with these numbers? Solid majorities of Americans believe they are individually ready to vote for a woman, African-American, or Hispanic for president, but believe many of their fellow citizens aren’t ready to take the plunge. That seems bothersome. Why in 2007  is that still the case?

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