Flavia Monteiro Colgan | 2008: WATCHING THE BARRIERS FALL

THE long wait is over. In the span of a couple of days, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton all but made it official - they're running for president in 2008.

And there are plenty of reasons for voters to sit up and take notice.

First, the obvious. For the first time in U.S. history, there is an African-American candidate who may be gathering enough support to actually win the nomination. At the same time, in the same party, the candidate still most likely to win that nomination is a woman who has a real chance to go to the Oval Office.

And if that isn't enough, Bill Richardson has jumped in, too, adding some Hispanic flavor to the Democratic free-for-all.

Think about it. If we ask ourselves whether race or gender is still an insurmountable barrier on the path to the White House, we may have to admit that the answer no longer seems to be yes.

Despite all the progress this nation has made on matters of race and women's rights since the 1960s and '70s, the notion that anyone but a white male could win the White House seemed outside the realm of possibility, even during the last election cycle.

Sure, there have been African-American candidates on both sides of the aisle. But, from Shirley Chisholm to Jesse Jackson to Alan Keyes, Al Sharpton to Carol Moseley Braun, the candidacies have never been anything more than a long shot. And the closest we've ever come to electing a woman to anywhere near the White House was Geraldine Ferraro's crushing defeat for vice president in 1984.

What separates Obama from the rest is that he says he's not a black politician, but a public servant who happens to be black. In his announcement on his Web site, there was no mention of his color. He announced right after Martin Luther King Day, but didn't mention the civil-rights leader. Obama understands that if he wants voters to see past his color, he must see past it, too.

At a time when some Americans are feeling low about our prospects and our politics, Obama is positioning himself to be to this nation what Pat Croce was to the Sixers - someone who can help us believe again.

In that sense, Obama is the right man at the right time. In announcing his decision, he focused on rebuilding our politics, on our common aspirations and bringing average Americans back into the fold after so many years of feeling alienated and powerless. That's not a black message, and not a white message. It's the right message.

Hillary faces a tougher challenge - overcoming the perception that she's not as emotionally accessible as Obama, or even her husband, but she has her strengths, too, making the leap from strong first lady to even stronger senator.

While she hasn't grabbed on to large issues in the Senate, she's proven to be incredibly adept at understanding the needs and concerns of her New York constituency. Remember, this isn't just liberal New York City we're talking about. Clinton has managed to use her office to win the favor of normally Republican upstate voters, who rarely vote with the city.

You get the sense with Hillary that although she might not inspire in the same way as Obama, there is little concern that the nation would be in untested hands with her as president. You can picture her walking into the situation room and being in command. Unfairly, most female politicians must overcome the perception that they're somehow not as strong as men. Not Hillary.

Gov. Richardson has gotten into the race with lots less fanfare. But at a time when many Hispanics feel under siege from anti-immigrant forces, Richardson's candidacy is proving that children of Latino immigrants have so much to offer this country.

No matter what happens in the Democratic primary, Obama, Clinton and Richardson have already had a seismic effect on our politics. Their candidacies have the potential to galvanize huge swaths of people who sit out elections because they feel they aren't being represented. Their participation will reinvigorate and strengthen our democracy.

More important, because of their strengths, the media and public at large are judging these candidates on their ideas, not their gender, ethnicity or race.

Finally, thanks to Obama, Clinton and Richardson, what we were taught as schoolkids might finally be true - no matter who you are or where you're from, anyone can grow up to be president. *

Flavia Colgan is a member of the Daily News editorial board and an MSNBC commentator. Check out her blog, CitizenHunter, at www.citizenhunter.com.