Race and the campaign

There was a lot of talk before the election about the role that race would play, and whether racist voters would produce an outcome different than that projected by the polls. Well, race certainly did play its part -- as a huge advantage for Obama. As Scott Johnson says:

Obama's race was an asset to his candidacy at every step of the way. Americans want to prove their racial good will. A black candidate whose race is incidental to his campaign and whose political skills are manifest is able to take advantage of a great moral yearning that lies deep within the American psyche. Shelby Steele, who has eloquently explored this theme in reference to Obama, refers to it as "the idealism that race is but a negligible human difference."

For evidence backing this up see this and this.