With both parties in close races to see who the eventual winners of their nominations for president will be, I thought it was time to ask the questions others have but don’t seem to be asking publicly.

Are we as a nation ready to elect a charasmatic black man as president, or will hidden prejudices play out in the actual vote if Barack Obama is the Democratic nominee?

It can easily be said he has no experience and that would be justified. He doesn’t have any experience, but then again who has had experience when he first walked into the Oval Office as President of the United States?

Could we or would we elect a woman to the highest office in the land? Probably, if it’s the right woman, but Hillary Clinton has not shown herself to be that woman despite her claims of 35 years of experience. She was the wife of a president, but not president herself, and there seems to be such a struggle to gain all that power back, not for the good of the country, but for the good of the Clintons.

We have seen in the primaries during the past week or so just how low the Clintons will stoop to get the prize.

If she won, how would she govern? We know she is socialist at heart and would love to expand the nanny state. With the help of the current congress, if it stays the way it is, she would pass so many social programs we would fall over under the weight of it all.

Are we ready to elect a Mormon to the highest office in the land? I admit a certain concern about Mitt Romney’s candidacy that has to do with his religion, but it’s only what I have read of Mormonism by people who have left and may be bitter, that I base my prejudice.

He seems like a nice enough guy, but comes across as someone doing a toothpaste commercial. Pretty soon you get tired of looking at his teeth and want to hear some real substance.

I think our country is ready to elect someone of a race not caucasion if the electorate truly believes that person to be the best choice offered to us. Obama speaks very eloquently, and he can mesmerize you when he speaks. He seems truly to change the tone in Washington, but then again so did George W. Bush, and look where he got.

I also think we are ready to elect a woman if the right woman were to offer herself as a candidate, but Hillary Clinton is not that woman for reasons stated above.

Israel elected Golda Meier several decades ago, and Great Britain gave us Margaret Thatcher, but I submit to you that Hillary Clinton is no Golda Meier or Margaret Thatcher and there’s the rub.

Romney. Yes, it seems people would vote for a Mormon, but does this particular Mormon have what it takes to be president? He has plenty of management and executive experience and that’s a plus.

He just seems so…slick at times.

So, it appears right now our choices are these three and possibly John McCain, who served his country well during trying circumstances in the Viet Nam war.

None of them rings my bell, but when the time comes I’ll have to decide which one to choose and it will be based on philosophy, vision, ability and probably the running mate.

This may be the longest campaign we’ve ever endured, but it certainly isn’t boring.