In one of my favorite political thrillers, Gore Vidal’s 1964 “The Best Man”, a former president predicts a black, Jewish, and female president soon to come. Well, almost 60 years later he’s only one for three. However, with serious female players in the mix one is bound to make the grade sooner rather than later. Here are top three contenders and dark horses. And yes, we mean biologically and operationally female. Those in drag or confused about their sexuality are consigned to another article.

1) The veep- Like it or not, airhead or not, she’s poised for it. The power of the office, the national stature, the Democrat base all point to the eventual ascension of Kamala Harris. However, she doesn’t have what it takes. Sure, she could get there if they use the 25th to kick Joe to the curb (or the leftist powers that be decide to finally make a big thing out of Tara Reade, like they just did to Cuomo over his various misdeeds). Running as an incumbent would help her. But still think she’d fold one to one in a presidential debate, as she did in front of Mike Pence in the veep debate in 2016, and the rigors of a campaign would show her up for the empty pants suit that she is. Yes, there would be hoopla on the race and gender factor. But Obama and Hillary already stole that thunder. It’s old hat by now.

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2) Nikki Haley- The best shot. Okay, some hard right Republicans think she’s a squish. These are the same gits who think Trump never lost the election. But she could bring back on board moderates and suburban women who could be the key to presidential victory. She was a decent governor, a successful member of the Trump administration in the UN slot, and is positioning herself well for 2024 and beyond. She’s attractive (but not too much so as to put off women) youngish, articulate, and has a great backstory. She’d have to stay viable in Iowa and New Hampshire then clean up on Super Tuesday. But she has an excellent shot, no doubt about it.

3) Kristi Noem- A dream candidate. Beautiful, conservative, well spoken, young, a successful governor, she brings a lot to the table. There are far right loons who think she’s all wet over certain South Dakota state issues. They are merely looking for heretics. One thing the hard right must get is that if Republicans nominate a candidate completely acceptable to them that leaves by the shore a majority of American voters. This makes it harder to win. You’d think this bit of simple logic would be easy for the hard right and hard left to ken. Apparently not. But anyway, when Noem’s time comes, and she’s young enough to wait a bit, barring unforseen circumstances, she’ll be unstoppable.

Dark horses are Sarah Sanders, Senators Marsha Blackburn and Krysten Sinema, and Jeanette Nunez, Lt. Governor of Florida. Timeline? My guess, a female president within 20 years, probably sooner.