15 years ago, I'd take that bet in a heartbeat. Now, I think people have been taught by the media that it means racism. Amazing how effective the media has been in putting that in society's collective heads.
A dozen years ago, Jonathan Alter listed in one of his weekly newsrag essays all the campaigns he and his press buddies were running. There were 12-14 of them or more (I forget the number), and the burden of Alter's argument was a plea to his co-conspirators for issue rationing. To be effective with their brainwashing, he pointed out, the press had to limit the number of issues they campaigned on.
Among the 90's list: Smoking (or rather, anti-smoking), homosexuality (pro-homosexuality), environmentalism, and abortion.
A key to understanding of press campaigns is that they are cooperative, collaborative exercises in propagandization, and rely on the same techniques Goebbels used in the 1920's and 30's: relentless repetition, demonization of opponents (arguments ad hominem, liberally applied), and demagoguery (argument in the face of facts) where necessary.
Alter's point was that proliferation of campaign issues would lead to loss of focus and loss of traction among the lumpenproletariat -- that is, the Free People of the United States, whom Alter and stooges regard as chumps, marks, and rubes.