As the latest polls show that Sarah Palin's negatives have shot up 10 points in a week, Barack Obama has regained a slight lead in the polls. It seems clear that this race is going to be a battle right down until Election Day. Unfortuately, if Barack Obama were not half black, he would probably be 10 points ahead and walking away with this race. Of course, Obama is not at fault. His candidacy is a testament to the progress this country has made since the dark days of Jim Crowe. But everybody knows that pockets of racism exist in this country. Sometimes below the surface, and sometimes above.

A recent article in the NYT discussed how Catholic voters in Scranton are still split on whom to support. In the article they quote a man, BY NAME, who made a dumb crack about turning the White House into the "Black House". He didn't even care that his name was quoted saying that in a national newspaper. There will be countless more people that won't be as open about it as this guy, they will just go in that voting booth and vote their bigotry. I personally know some people that have said they won't vote for a black guy and that is here in New York!

That is why this election will continue to scare me. I believe in the "Bradley Effect", i.e. white voters lying to pollsters saying that they would be willing to support a black candidate, just to turn around and vote the other way. For my own sanity, I have to believe that there are enough younger, open minded, new voters out there who feel differently, that it will overcome this inherent racism. But I'll be sweating bullets until Obama reaches 270 Electoral Voters on November 4.