Nate Silver over at 538 has a post that argues against the assertion that the “Obama voters” (read non-white) were responsible for prop 8’s passage.

At the end of the day, Prop 8’s passage was more a generational matter than a racial one. If nobody over the age of 65 had voted, Prop 8 would have failed by a point or two … The good news for supporters of marriage equity is that — and there’s no polite way to put this — the older voters aren’t going to be around for all that much longer, and they’ll gradually be cycled out and replaced by younger voters who grew up in a more tolerant era. 

Read it and be reassured.

Just to prove that my heart isn’t hardened to sentiment:

(Click to enlarge)

Dan Savage highlights some disturbing exit poll data:

African American voters in California voted overwhelmingly for Prop 8, writing anti-gay discrimination into California’s constitution and banning same-sex marriage in that state. Seventy percent of African American voters approved Prop 8, according to exit polls, compared to 53% of Latino voters, 49% of white voters, 49% of Asian voters.

The Mormon Church ran a deceitful campaign that, among other lies, claimed that Barack Obama supported Proposition 8. While Obama clearly stated his opposition to Prop 8, he did so rather quietly. He also confused the matter by also stating unequivocally that he opposes gay marriage.

African-American turnout was considerably higher due to Obama’s candidacy and effective ground game. Obama’s failure to vigorously and clearly oppose Proposition 8 is all the more disheartening in the light of these numbers.

[Update: 11/07/2008 5:45 pm]
I have been properly schooled by Shanikka over at My Left Wing. I think her most powerful points are that, (a) the CNN exit poll data was small, non-random, and unlikely to be anywhere near accurate (she has ample reasons in her post, which I find convincing); and, (b) given the number of African-Americans in California, a shift in their voting pattern on Question 8 is unlikely to have changed the final outcome. She also properly notes that we’re not going to triumph by being divisive and pointing fingers, and I agree. We need to confront racism in the LGBTQ world, and we need to confront homophobia wherever we find it; and people of conscience need to come together to fight for justice.

(h/t: Andrew Sullivan)

Yes.

$657,000,000,000:	amount the US Congress has spent on Operation Iraqi “Freedom.”
$173,000,000,000:	amount the US Congress has spent on Operation Enduring “Freedom.”
$260:	amount Obama’s poor Kenyan aunt donated to his presidential campaign

Guess which expenditure has the US media and the right wing screaming in protest?

[Google News: “Read all 1,095 news articles”]

Amanda Jones, 109, the daughter of a man born into slavery, has lived a life long enough to touch three centuries. And after voting consistently as a Democrat for 70 years, she has voted early for the country’s first black presidential nominee.

The full article from the Austin American-Statesman is a good read, despite some of the nasty comments after the article.

One of the blogs I’m checking obsessively these days is Nate Silver’s excellent poll data site www.FiveThirtyEight.com. In addition to fascinating analysis (and detailed critiques of other polling sites) he peppers his blog with a number of anecdotal election stories. This recent post from a caller in Virginia caught my eye:

Last week, Julie Hensley made one of her thousands of phone calls on behalf of Barack Obama. A woman answered. As Hensley ran through her short script, the husband impatiently broke in.

“Ma’am, we’re voting for the n***er.” And hung up.

NOTE: Be sure to check out the final twist to this story at the bottom of the post.

I think this story says a lot about how Obama is winning over folks who otherwise are racist. In troubled times like these, the “content of his character” really is more important than the color of his skin.

We’ve gone down a lot of bad roads in this country, but we are growing up. I see this election very much as a generational shift, from the politics/ideals of the past to those of the future.

UPDATE: More on “Racists for Obama”

Did you figure out the title? It’s “This Message Is In Code,” rotated ahead by 1 letter (T>U). You may not have correctly decoded that, but I bet you can decode these:

1. Values voter
2. Heartland
3. Mainstream voter
4. Hard-working Americans
5. Lunch pail voters
6. Soccer moms
7. Walmart Moms
8. Nascar Dads
9. Blue collar
10. Regular Americans

Yes, those are just the first ten of 69 Ways to Say “White” (Without Saying “White”), courtesy of the fine folks whose blog helpfully explains, We Are Respectable Negroes.

From the Albany Times Union, via Talking Points Memo:

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama’s last name is spelled “Osama” on hundreds of absentee ballots mailed out this week to voters in Rensselaer County.

The misspelling, which elections officials on both sides of the aisle insist was simply a typo, is causing embarrassment for the county.

Lovely.

[Updated below with ballot image]