Beyond Christie and Clinton: Who's bringing diversity to the 2016 field?

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Three potential presidential candidates, Hillary Clinton, Chris Christie and Elizabeth Warren, are getting all the attention of late in the press.

But in an increasingly diverse America, it is possible both parties will have a minority on their ticket, as either president or vice-president. (For Republicans in particular, diversity is an imperative.)

Here’s a look at some of the possibilities:

Democrats

Deval Patrick

The Massachusetts governor has already ruled out running for president in 2016. But a successful two-term governor who also is African-American will also most certainly get some consideration as a vice-presidential candidate.

Cory Booker

The longtime Newark mayor only entered the Senate a few weeks ago and is almost certain not to run for president. But he, like Patrick, could be considered as the vice-presidential nominee.

Julian Castro

San Antonio’s mayor is a Democratic Party favorite who delivered a strong speech at the party’s convention last fall. And Latinos are a group that Republicans are desperate to make gains with. The Democratic nominee tapping a Latino as vice-president might help the party hold its huge edge with that voting bloc. On the other hand, picking a mayor, particularly of a modestly-sized city like San Antonio, could generate criticisms of a lack of experience.

Republicans

Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz

These two Latino politicians have defined the trajectory of this year for the Republicans. Rubio began 2013 cast as the savior of the GOP and delivered the Republican response to President Obama’s State of the Union address.

But his role in passing an immigration bill through the Senate along the lines of what President Obama supports irritated many conservatives. Enter Cruz. He not only opposed the immigration legislation, but then led the Republicans failed effort to roll back President Obama’s health care law, annoying party officials in Washington, but exciting conservative activists.

Cruz is the Washington outsider that people in the Beltway don’t like, Rubio is a favorite of the party establishment but considered insufficiently conservative for many Tea Party types.

Both may now be too controversial to be nominated for president by Republicans or picked as the vice-president. But don’t count them out.

Nikki Haley and Susana Martinez

The Indian-American Haley, the governor of South Carolina, has not yet touted herself as a presidential candidate. But if she wins reelection next year, which is not assured, a female minority governor (Haley is only 41) will be an intriguing possibility for a Republican Party that has struggled to win the votes of women, people under 35 and ethnic minorities.

Martinez, the governor of New Mexico, actually campaigned last week for Christie in New Jersey and all but announced she would like to be considered as vice-president if he is the nominee.

Bobby Jindal

The Indian-American Jindal has struggled to excite Republicans as a presidential candidate. That said, his credentials, Rhodes Scholar, top official at the Department of Health and Human Services, congressman, two-term governor of Louisiana, are impeccable. His name was bandied about as a vice-presidential candidate in 2012, although it’s not clear how seriously Mitt Romney considered him.