What if our first woman president is Italian?

There is one detail from the Republican primary that was widely overlooked: if Rudy Giuliani had been elected President, he would have been the first Italian-American President. Here's another, even more obscure fact: the first Italian-American to serve on the Supreme Court is still there: Antonin Scalia. It's interesting to note, in this respect, that Geraldine Ferraro, the first woman to be nominated for vice president as the candidate of a major party, was Italian.

And the first woman Speaker of the House of Representatives is also the first Italian-American: Nancy Pelosi. So maybe our first woman president will also be our first Italian-American president.

I think an Italian-American woman could be perfect as a candidate for president for several reasons: she'll probably be very tough. She'll probably be very passionate about the causes she believes in. She will almost certainly be a Democrat.

Italians sometimes have a reputation for being undisciplined politically (how many governments have there been in Italy since WWII?). Germany is where the trains run on time. Consider this: Germans make great luxury cars, but mostly they make sedans. But the best sports cars in the world - beautiful, fast, and incredibly well-engineered - are Italian.

In other words, an Italian-American woman running for President will quite possibly be very cool and very hip.

I have some personal experience that's relevant to this question. The best boss I ever had was an Italian woman when I worked here.

Mario Cuomo, if you know any woman who fits this description, we'd love to hear from you.