if anyone doubts that race is not going to be the single most important operating factor in the Obama/McCain race, they’re kidding themselves. For all the talk about policy, about truly critical matters like Iraq, the economy, the fuel crunch and the environment, those issues are going to take a back seat to what this election is really all about–a referendum on race. From a recent Wapo article:

“For all the hope and excitement Obama’s candidacy is generating, some of his field workers, phone-bank volunteers and campaign surrogates are encountering a raw racism and hostility that have gone largely unnoticed — and unreported — this election season. Doors have been slammed in their faces. They’ve been called racially derogatory names (including the white volunteers). And they’ve endured malicious rants and ugly stereotyping from people who can’t fathom that the senator from Illinois could become the first African American president.

“The contrast between the large, adoring crowds Obama draws at public events and the gritty street-level work to win votes is stark. The candidate is largely insulated from the mean-spiritedness that some of his foot soldiers deal with away from the media spotlight.”

Obama may want to keep race out of the spotlight and his handlers may also decide that it is good strategy to keep him insulated from this kind of hatred. But there is no doubt that McCain’s campaign, through 527’s and his surrogates are going to do what they do best–play on people’s prejudices and fears. Which is why I think this is going to be an incredibly ugly campaign, perhaps the worst in our history. Even the Switfboat boys are ginning up, big time:

“We will attack Obama viciously on all fair issues, whether they are national security, whether they are taxes or the economy,” promised Chris LaCivita, one of the Republican strategists behind the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, the group that attacked Democratic presidential candidate John F. Kerry in 2004.

LaCivita added: “At the end of the day, every individual has a right to participate in the political process whether John McCain likes it or not. It’s their constitutional right.”

This is the only way the Pugs can buck the pro-Dem trend we’re seeing, even in bright red states (Mississippi results). They have no other option because they can’t win on the merits, and we have no choice but to pray that Obama and his team are up to this formidable challenge. And that we’re evolved enough as a nation to reject such blatant hate.