Did Race play a factor in election?

By Foxnews: http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/05/07/race-key-in-primaries-but-democrats-question-its-role-in-a-mccain-obama-election/


Barack Obama never wanted his candidacy to be about race, but an extraordinary racial gap appeared to play a decisive role in his big North Carolina victory Tuesday.
According to exit polling in the Tar Heel State, Obama got 92 percent of the African-American vote — a record percentage for him in the Democratic primaries. Blacks made up a third of the state’s electorate.
Hillary Clinton’s continued advantage over Obama among white voters — who made up 62 percent of the total and voted 60 to 36 percent for her over Obama — was no match for the solid backing the Illinois senator got from blacks.
In Indiana, which has a much smaller African-American population at 15 percent, the story was much of the same. There, Obama won 92 percent of the African-American vote, and Clinton won 60 percent of white voters, who comprised 81 percent of the vote.
Exit polling indicated that race wasn’t the only factor that helped Obama narrow Clinton’s lead in Indiana and propel his win in North Carolina. He cut into her own constituencies — like lower-income voters, Catholics and those who said the economy was their most pressing issue.
The controversy surrounding Obama’s former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, weighed on the minds of some voters. In both Indiana and North Carolina, nearly half the voters said the Wright issue was important to them, and a majority of those voters went for Clinton.
Bob Beckel, Democratic strategist and FOX News contributor, said Obama took a hit because of his former pastor in the Pennsylvania primary two weeks ago, but he believes the impact has reached its peak.
“I think it’s overstated,” he said of the race issue — whether it be the Wright factor or even the racial gap.
Beckel said blacks no doubt rallied behind Obama, especially after what he called the glut of attacks on the candidate in recent weeks, but he does not think the white-black divide will affect the general election.