Earlier this week, we posted a commentary on the Freedom Blog suggesting that race — although talked about by the news media as a potential issue in the Presidential election — would probably not play a significant role in how voters choose between Barack Obama and John McCain (at least in the views of most political observers).

We should have known better, it appears.  With just five days left in the election campaign, race is becoming a hot topic.

You don’t have to look far for the evidence.  On Wednesday, an effigy of Obama was found hanging from a tree on the University of Kentucky campus in Lexington.  Police are investigating, and UK and state officials all expressed outrage and embarrassment over the incident.  At a McCain rally in Pottsville, Pennsylvania, demonstrators were videotaped uttering contempt for Obama . . . with one man shockingly suggesting that if the Illinois Senator became President, he might soon be shot.

It is worth emphasizing that GOP nominee McCain has and continues to condemn these kinds of outbursts.  He told CNN’s Larry King that in his view, only a “teeny, tiny” minority of people will vote solely on the basis of race, and that economic worries are by far the overriding issue of the election.  Political observers also point out that race could in fact propel Obama to victory as African Americans flock to the polls to cast their ballots overwhelmingly for the Democratic candidate.

Still, a truism of today’s political environment is that anyone (whether part of a candidate’s campaign or simply acting on their own) can access the megaphone of the media spotlight or the Internet to inject prejudice, hate or fear into the quadrennial Presidential election event.  A young white woman who faked an attack by an African American man got her 15 minutes of fame in the national news media, and soon faded from view.  Yes there are undoubtedly some (many?) people who heard or read about the incident and took it to heart as confirming their worst fears about people not like them.

New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof, attempting to create a dialogue about race, chimed in with a column quoting at length from a research study indicating that many people subconsciously believe that dark or black skinned people are “foreign,” or “less American,” and that this perception could impact the Nov. 4 voting.  Incredibly, the research found that respondents — California college students — perceived that Obama was less an American than former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Kristof concludes his column by suggesting that the 2008 election “creates an opportunity” for serious discussion about “the murky complexities of race.”  That’s a noble — necessary — goal.  But as the election draws to a close, it is becoming increasingly likely that voters will have to first endure a last minute assault of racial animosity and fear as they decide whether to take the historic step of electing a man of color to the White House.

Postscript:

The latest NY Times/CBS national poll (which indicates a 51% to 40% Obama lead), shows that Obama’s candidacy has changed some perceptions of race in America. Quoting from the Times:  “Nearly two-thirds of those polled said that white and black people have an equal chance of getting ahead in today’s society, up from the half who said that they thought so in July. And while 14 percent still said that most people they know would not vote for a black presidential candidate, a question pollsters often ask to try to gauge bias, the number has dropped considerably since the campaign began.”