Ms. President

A black woman running for the White House would be a bit far out even in an Allen Drury novel--or so it seemed before Shirley Chisholm came on the scene. Last week, in her Bedford-Stuyvesant district of Brooklyn with California Representative Ron Dellums at her side, the U.S.'s first black Congresswoman announced her candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination--bringing the total number of declared entrants to ten. Why is she running? "To repudiate the ridiculous notion that the American people will not vote for a qualified candidate simply because he is not white or because she is not male."

Chisholm will have to work hard to prove her point. Black politicians and women's groups are far from united behind her candidacy; George McGovern and John Lindsay are competing for the same liberal constituency; and she has neither financial nor organizational resources to make a serious fight. Chisholm has no illusions; there is already talk of the No. 2 spot on the ticket, or of perhaps even mayor of New York City in 1973. Whatever happens, her bravado is impressive. "Thirty-six or more persons have been President of these United States," she said last week. "Experientially and educationally, I am better than all, excepting six or seven. I have a near genius IQ--close to 160. I am a very brilliant-minded woman."

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