Obama racial factor hard to quantify

WASHINGTON, Oct. 15 (UPI) -- It's difficult to tell what role racial prejudice is playing in the candidacy of Democratic U.S. presidential nominee Barack Obama, political veterans say.

While some observers automatically shave a point or two off of the poll numbers of Obama, a black U.S. senator from Illinois, to account for hidden racial prejudices of white voters, others say they don't believe Obama's race will be much of a factor, The New York Times reported Wednesday.

"If (Obama) were white, this would be a blowout," said Harold Ickes, a prominent Democratic political veteran who in 1988 advised another black presidential candidate, the Rev. Jesse Jackson. "I think the country has come a long, long, long way since the 1960s. I think everybody would agree with that.

"But if you talk to people in certain states, they will say there are impulses that do not benefit Barack Obama because of the color of his skin."

"There is a group of voters who will not vote for people who are opposite their race," Rep. Artur Davis, D-Ala., a black congressman, told the Times. "I don't believe this campaign will be decided by race; there are too many other important issues."