By Mark Rhoads –
In 2008 Hillary Clinton ran to be the first woman nominated by a major party for president but lost the nomination to the first African-American to be nominated. Eight years later in 2016, she is still running to be the first woman to be nominated, but most news coverage overlooks the fact that Bernie Sanders could also break a barrier as the first Jewish candidate to be nominated.
According to a June 2015 Gallup poll, 91 percent of Americans say they have no objection to voting for a Jewish candidate for president.
Sanders is much more secular than religious in his Jewish identity but he would break a religious barrier for president nevertheless. In 1928, Gov. Al Smith of New York was the first Roman Catholic nominated by a major party but a Catholic did not win the office until Jack Kennedy did in 1960.
It must be frustrating for Hillary Clinton not to have exclusive claim on the only possible historic first even in her second try for president.
If nominated, Ted Cruz would be the first Cuban-American and Donald Trump would be the first with Scottish and German heritage and John Kasich also has German heritage, which was first in the ancestry of President Herbert Hoover.
