This Presidential election has brought out the claims that racism is alive and well in the United States. Sen. Barack Obama is being touted as the first Black American to be nominated for the office of President of the United States, although since he is biracial, that is the claim he should be making. As we saw from the exit polling during the course of the primaries, there is a difference between what the pollsters are told and what the voter actually does in the privacy of the polling booth.

     What is the reason behind what is called the “Bradley Effect”? The Bradley Effect is the term coined after Tom Bradley, Mayor of Los Angeles, lost a California gubernatorial race despite the fact that all polls showed him ahead. Tom Bradley, a Black candidate, found that the answers given to the pollsters did not reflect what actually occurred.

      Is the reason for the Bradley effect in this election because we fear electing Obama to the White House, or is it because anyone who states that they do not support the Obama candidacy is labelled a racist? Is the Obama campaign, through surrogates like Gov. Sebellius, planting the seed of the Bradley effect as a reason for the closeness in the polls as a means of garnering a “sympathy” position?

     I for one have been attacked as being a racist on various websites, including Barack Obama’s website, because I have dared to question his “transparent” candidacy. Thus, I would find it highly understandable that someone being questioned by a pollster would give a tainted answer, simply out of fear of verbal abuse. Juan Williams, a FOX contributor, has said that Obama needs to establish a buffer of at least 8 points going into the election to counter the possibility of the Bradley Effect. By all accounts as of today, this will probably not happen.

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