I'm afraid Peter S. Canellos is wrong when he says:

But what's more noteworthy in the 2006 elections is how small a role race has played in statewide races involving black candidates.

Race has played as large a role as ever...the more accurate statement would be that Black candidates have not taken the race bait.

For instance, Mr. Canellos noticed the RNSC's ad, which extended their "Fancy Ford" web site. Steve Gilliard called it correctly at the time.

So why use the word fancy?

Well, according to Encarta:

fancy man

noun
1. woman's lover: the lover or boyfriend of a woman, especially a married woman (dated informal)
2. Same as pimp
(archaic)

Of course, when you get to the site, you'll see Ford's picture next to a line of white Playboy bunnies. The subtext here is nasty. Not that they think he's a pimp, but he's uppity and has a taste for white women, which is poison in a lot of places.

They tossed the race card on the table with a little more subtlety than a whites only sign. But only a little.

They'll deny it, but fancy? Come on, it isn't about his spending habits.

Modern racists always attack by connotation. That Mr. Canellos says

In past elections, such a campaign theme might have set off a raucous protest that such accusations play on racial stereotypes.

...means he sees it too. But this is not playing the race card.

But more likely, they realized that playing the race card diminishes them by turning them into a stereotype: The black candidate demanding special consideration because of his race.

Only Black folks can play the race card, it seems. So when Ford flips it on them with a proper snap

This year, Ford chose to fire back in kind, declaring, "I'm not going to take a lecture on morality from a party that took hush money from a child predator."

So far, Ford has done very well by keeping the race card buried in the deck. He leads his Republican opponent, former Chattanooga Mayor Bob Corker, in several recent polls.

his response is definitely shaped by knowing how readily he will be cast as the nigger if he disturbs their sleep.

One can't sensibly claim race is playing a small role in a race where one side attempts to goad a statement that is scary to white folks out of every Black candidate.

More recently, though, Patrick has been under fire from his Republican opponent, Kerry Healey, for his exertions on behalf of convicted rapist Benjamin LaGuer. It hasn't escaped notice in the blogosphere that this is the first appearance of a black rapist from Massachusetts in a political race since Willie Horton. Back in 1988, the Republican ad against Democratic presidential nominee Michael Dukakis that featured Horton was widely criticized as an appeal to racist sentiments.

But Patrick, who was slow to respond to accusations that he had turned a blind eye to LaGuer's offense, nonetheless refrained from suggesting there was any racial dimension to the issue.

Neither does dragging Steele into the mix make you honestly even-handed when you miss things like this.

And if Mfume wins the primary? Steele has a message ready, though it's aimed more at white voters who polls suggest will be less inclined to support a black activist like Mfume. "Voters have to ask who's going to better serve them." he says. "[Someone] who represents all the people, or just one particular race?"

That's the sort of thing that will get you corked up every time. If Steele hasn't played the race card it's ONLY because he didn't get the opportunity.

Perhaps Ford and Patrick have learned from black Republicans like Blackwell and Steele that the best way to win white votes is to maintain an air of strict racial neutrality. More likely, they've learned from Barack Obama, the only African-American in the Senate and a Democrat from Illinois, that black candidates can win over white voters with a broad message of overcoming national divisions.

Obama, perhaps more than any other figure on the national stage, has tapped into the yearning for civility and unity in politics; it's a natural message for a black candidate, because blacks are such a small part of the national political system that they can hardly be blamed for its woes.

Race, race, RACE-Race-race.

But no race card being played.

Riiiiigt.