Race and gender played a central role in this year’s presidential campaign. And, despite the fact that we now live in a "post-racial" America, debate still rages over the role of skin color and biological sex in American politics — specifically, the Senate.

The website Politico wonders this morning, "How come Roland Burris has had such an easy time getting to the U.S. Senate while Caroline Kennedy has had such a hard time? Could it be that the race card trumps the gender card in U.S. politics?" Looking at all the facts, the site’s concluded that "well, yes. It could be."

Roger Simon reports on how, despite the fact that Senate Democrats said "no way" to Roland Burris’s appointment to Barack Obama’s Senate seat by Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, he suddenly seems to be a shoe-in. This, of course, came after some Burris advocates played the race card and even suggested that criticism of Burris was "akin to lynching."

But harken back to the Democratic primary days when Hillary Clinton’s supporters screamed "gender bias" by the media and those in Congress who called on her to duck out of the running. People criticized the playing of the gender card then, but did anyone criticize the use of the race card in Burris’s situation? And now, no one is using the gender argument to push Kennedy into the Senate.

"Unlike the racial arguments being made on behalf of Burris, the airwaves were not filled with anyone saying that a Senate seat held by one woman had to be filled by another woman," Simon writes. Women’s groups have been making that argument, of course, but apparently their calls aren’t loud enough.

We’re not sure if we agree with Politico’s take — for no one can know for sure why Senatorial Democrats buckled — but the scenario proves one thing: Americans need to remain keyed into such social differences.

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