"This Obama thing really IS scary. He could not possibly be elected, but he could be setting the stage for someone else as an "at least I'm not as bad as Obama" alternative. And race is irrelevant here."
Most people here say that race is irrelevant. I don't think that's true. I think that many Americans are still concerned that deep inside black candidates have a little Jesse Jackson living in them. Obama, if nominated would have a terrible time living that one down. Every time he got mad, he'd have to watch out for coming off like an angry black man - white voters run from those types.
Like the story says, don't forget Harold Ford, Michael Steele (not an angry black man), Kenneth Blackwell and others. I think there's a lot of voters that will be hesitant on the race issue.
I didn't really make myself very clear. When I said race really isn't the issue here, what I meant was that I think that there is nobody in either party that seriously thinks a black man (or woman) can be president, in spite of all the black presidents in modern fiction. ;)
Whoever is REALLY anointed to be a late front runner (when it matters) is almost certainly not black.