Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/diverse-candidates-aim-to-transcend-race-gender Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Transcript The presidential primary races show diverse candidates polling high. The NewsHour reports on the issues of race and gender in the 2008 presidential election. Read the Full Transcript GWEN IFILL: Kicking off his campaign in Springfield, Illinois, this weekend, Barack Obama did not hesitate to compare himself to another relatively inexperienced Illinois state lawmaker who later laid claim to the White House.SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D), Illinois: In the shadow of the Old State Capitol, where Lincoln once called on a house divided to stand together, where common hopes and common dreams still live, I stand before you today to announce my candidacy for president of the United States of America! GWEN IFILL: On a clear and frigid day, Obama's carefully choreographed announcement unfolded as planned: picture perfect. But what happens next is anybody's guess.Although he came to Springfield this weekend to emphasize generational change, it's also clear that Barack Obama, and Hillary Clinton, and Bill Richardson, and even Mitt Romney, are going to have spend a lot of this campaign talking about race, and gender, and ethnicity, and even religion.