Not too long ago, I had a very insightful interaction with an acquaintance, one that made me feel better than ever about Obama's chances. It also knocked away some of my concerns about the so-called Bradley effect.
I was at a gathering of what you might call small town "good ol' boys." They were sitting around, drinking beer, and talking about whatever came to mind.
Keep in mind that blatant, uncensored racism is a normal part of discourse among these guys, and it was out in full force here. When the subject of the presidential election came up, Obama's mention was met with racial epithets and taunts of all kinds.
"I ain't voting for no n*****!" was shouted out by someone and it was met with cheers by many of the people there. I just shuddered and looked down at the floor for a bit, waiting for the topic to change. Arguing against racism in this situation is a waste of time - I have enough sense to bide my time and wait for the right opportunity.
One of the loudest cheerers was a guy I'd known for almost twenty years. I know that in many regards he's a sensible guy, so I had already decided to talk to him a bit more about it later.
When the opportunity came, it was just he and I sitting on a bench, with no one else around. I turned to him for a second and said, "You're going to vote for McCain, huh?" I had never mentioned anything about any political opinions on the election to him before this, so there was no predisposition.
His response shocked me. He looked around a bit and said, "Hell no. I ain't wasting my vote on that crazy old man. He'll get most of us killed going to war with Iran and then he'll drop dead and Brain Dead Barbie'll become president and she's even stupider."
"So you're voting Obama?"
He kicked back for a minute and said, "Yeah. I don't like voting for a n*****, but it's like I'm at a beach and I'm drowning and the only guy that knows CPR is a n*****. Am I going to tell him no?"
Then he leaned in and said, "You're the first person I've told that to. I even told that phone poll guy that I was voting for McCain." A pause. "And don't tell none of these guys, either. Gotta keep the boys happy, y'know." And he took a gulp of beer and wandered away.
If even 10% of the "good old boys" still out there in small town America feels this way, we've got this election locked up.