Chicago Tribune: Beyond race ... or not
Barack Obama's spectacular victory in Illinois' Democratic primary election for U.S. senator did not simply write a new chapter in state politics--it rewrote the book.
For nearly half a century, race and ethnicity have been defining issues in city and state elections--most pointedly in the city of Chicago, but a factor virtually everywhere.
The magnitude of Obama's win, sweeping predominantly white wards, townships and counties with long histories of anti-black voting patterns, suggests that race may no longer be a major obstacle for black candidates seeking high office--nor may an unusual name prove electorally fatal, as it once did.
Obama, 42, a state senator and law professor whose father was a black Kenyan and mother a white Kansan swept to victory with more than 52 percent of the vote in a field of seven contestants. That group included several eminently well-qualified candidates as well as a multimillionaire vanity candidate who pumped more than 30 million of his own dollars into his failed effort.
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http://www.obamaforillinois.com/artman/publish/article_282.shtml