Amie Parnes, The Hill, December 26, 2018

Democrats are worried that they have a problem: The three people leading polls in the very early stages of their presidential race are all white men.

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Vice President Joe Biden, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), and Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-Texas) are this year’s top-tier candidates, according to a recent and very early Des Moines Register/CNN/Mediacom poll.

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While some Democrats believe the early polls are merely a metric on name recognition, they say it defies the party’s mission to be more diverse and more inclusive that the top three candidates are all white men.

“It’s almost like we’re moving backwards,” said one Democratic strategist. {snip}

Democratic strategist Seth Bringman added that it “definitely sends the wrong message about who our party is.”

To be sure, a number of Democratic women and members of minority groups have expressed an interest in running for president.

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In an interview last week, CNN host Van Jones asked [Kirsten] Gillibrand [New York], who has been a vocal supporter of the “Me Too” movement, if she found the latest poll concerning: “In a party as diverse as ours, does it worry you to see the top three being white guys?”

“Yes,” Gillibrand replied.

“I aspire for our country to recognize the beauty of our diversity at some point in the future and I hope someday we have a woman president,” she continued after Jones pushed her on the point.

“I love the fact that Barack Obama was our president for eight years. I hope more people of color not only aspire [but] win the presidency because that’s what makes America so extraordinary, that we are all of that, we are everything, and I think a more inclusive America is a stronger America.”

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Still, she added, “I do think that Democrats won 2018 in large measure due to women voters. Women are leading movements politically, socially and culturally across the country. I just don’t see how a woman is not on the ticket in 2020.”

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A CNN exit poll taken last month showed that 65 percent of those Democrats polled felt it was important to support minorities and women.

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