[Cletus.D.Yokel]

:: Campaign manager Jim Messina wrote in an e-mail to supporters that Obama’s fundraising efforts in 2012 mark “a historic record for grass-roots politics.” ::

Grammer fuzz...it is “AN HISTORIC” not “a historic”...numbnuts!

[petitfour]

So you do not pronounce the ‘h’ in historic?

Either way is acceptable though Messina’s way is preferred.

[caveat emptor]

Grammer fuzz...it is “AN HISTORIC” not “a historic”...numbnuts!

You're good to go if you drop the "h" in pronouncing "historic". Here's the rule:

So many of you asked whether "a historic" should have been "an historic" that I thought I'd better answer the question here, even though it was the topic of last week's Grammar Girl podcast and there was a link to it in the newsletter.

The choice between "a" and "an" is governed by the first sound of the next word. If it's a consonant sound, choose "a"; if it's a vowel sound, choose "an." Although there are regional variations, the standard American pronunciation of "historic" starts with a consonant sound (just like the words "hit," "hipster," and "highlighter"), so the correct choice is "a historic." There's nothing special about "historic" that exempts it from the standard rule.