Progressivism got them there . . .

Wow. Then there were four. The remaining viable presidential candidates America has to chose from are now:
a woman,
a mixed-race man,
a white man who's Irish and Roman Catholic,
a white man who's a Mormon.

Embracing diversity is a value that progressives and liberals hold dear. Liberalism and progressivism made the above impressively diverse array of candidates possible. Conservatism did not. Conservatism failed to aid the forebears of every single viable candidate now running to become President of the United States.

Conservatism did not give women the vote, it resisted it.
Conservatism did not free slaves or end segregation, it resisted them both.
Conservatism did not champion the rights of Irish immigrants, it resisted them.
Conservatism did not tolerate religious diversity, it resisted it.

Every viable presidential candidate now running is where they are today in real part through progressives, reformers, liberals fighting hard. (And, yes, some of those reformers worked within fairly conservative organizations; but that's what made them reformers: they were the exception, not the rule; they made conservatism...a bit less conservative.)

Two of those candidates have strong records of championing diversity in the republic, in the workplace and at home, and fighting for the rights of minorities--Latinos, gay Americans, non-Christians, and others.

Two of those candidates represent a political party with a now decades-old record of opposition to diversity. In fact, at least one of those two candidates is most probably to the left of the base of his party on current immigration issues.

Analysis by Harper's Index shows that the percentage change in the number of Hispanic voters in the US between 2000 and 2008 is +122%.

Diversity matters, and political movements in America that resist diversity have thus far always ended up weakened or dead.

The test will be to see how these four candidates respond to opportunities to embrace diversity. Actually, all the candidates have blemishes on their record relative to diversity. Obviously, some of the blemishes are bigger than others. Obviously, some candidates have more blemishes than others.

Now is the time for these candidates' to show that those instances were in the past.