San Francisco, CA. USA - An African American multi-racial male is making history as a serious contender in the 2008 presidential race.
However, a white male Republican may have the best credentials for promoting cultural diversity.
A recent poll indicates that the Republican party's candidate for president is not someone who can lead Americans toward embracing their cultural and racial differences. Fourteen percent of the respondents in the Diversity Training University International (DTUI.com) poll selected Mitt Romney as the candidate that would most likely improve racial and ethnic relations. Less than one percent voted for Giuliani. McCain accumulated a dismal 2% of votes.

Barack Obama received the most votes with 61%. Hillary Clinton received 11% of the votes. John Edwards, a Super Tuesday casualty, receive two votes.
What's the story with Mitt Romney? It is no doubt that his pro gay civil union stance as governor of Massachusetts has a lot to do with it. It also helps that his state passed the civil union law. While Mitt has somewhat retracted his pro-civil union stance during the short run for Republican party presidency nomination, he still has an equality record that the Democratic race front runner cannot easily match.
America can no longer afford a leader who lacks cultural competence.
Americans were taken by surprise when Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama took center stage in the primaries. Their society has changed, but they are unprepared for it. Yet, Americans are basking in the glory of having had a woman and person of color competing in the race. They like witnessing the progress that has been made in American society. This is one more reason that the Republicans are in trouble. The economy is certainly a huge concern, but don't discount the power of a candidate's social capital in this election.
The country needs a leader who can harness its cultural diversity in the interest of global competitiveness. This translates to McCain needing Romney's diversity leadership experience to improve his uphill battle for the presidency.
DTUI.com website visitors had opportunities to respond to the poll from January 27, 2008 to August 11, 2008 resulting in sample of 384 respondents.
DTUI.com site visitors and blog subscribers tend to be highly educated (78% college educated), represented slightly more by women, at least 45 years old, and in the higher income brackets (i.e., about one in three visitors earn more than $100K annually). The results have about a 4-point error margin. Data were analyzed by the DTUI.com research division.