Although the 2008 US presidential elections are still a long way off, candidates  are already getting ready for the campaigns ahead.    For the Democrats  , the two leading candidates are a surprising pair. The first is Hillary Clinton, 60, the wife of former President Bill Clinton. The second is Barack Obama, 45, a Harvard educated senator  .    It is the first time that the leading presidential candidates for a political party are either a woman or black. The energetic pair has certainly gotten people's attention. But the question remains, is America ready for either one?    It's not a simple question to answer. For the past 220 years, Americans have elected only white males to the nation's highest office. That can hardly be called a tradition of diversity. However, many people believe that 2008 will be the year that this changes.   "The white men that have been running the country recently have done such a bad job, at home and abroad, that maybe now is the time for a change," said Dorian Cool of San Francisco, California.    The polling numbers seem to back up his opinion: 86 percent of Americans say they would vote for a qualified woman. An impressive 93 percent say they would vote for a black man if he seemed right for the job. These numbers are much higher than they were just 20 years ago. They may suggest that Americans are ready to be led by a different type of person.    Still, there is a lot to overcome. Although women represent 51 percent of the American population, there are only nine female governors out of 50. Out of 100 senators, only 16 are women. The numbers are significantly lower for blacks in office.  Since the American Civil War, only two blacks have been elected governor and only three have been elected to the Senate.    Surely both candidates face difficult odds, but never before has there been so much support for either a female or a black candidate.    As Barack Obama himself said, "There is not a black America and a white America, a Latino America and an Asian America -- there's the United States of America." If others share his vision, maybe the United States will end up with a new type of leader. Both Hillary and Barack face difficult odds mainly because   _  .
few women or blacks hold high official positions in American history women take up 51% of the American population they are either too young or old they lack financial support