Dennie Quill, Contributor

She is a 106-year-old American. The last time she voted in an election was in 1952, when she gave Eisenhower the nod. But on November 4, this retired music teacher has decided that she will vote for Democrat Barack Obama. The centenarian has attracted much attention from her convent in Rome, Italy when she declared that she will vote on the Internet for Obama. This, as the world watches, aware that history is about to be written on November 4.

Among my friends many seriously fear that if elected Obama will be assassinated. Not too far-fetched when one hears Republican supporters yelling "kill him" and "off with his head" and "bomb Obama" at a McCain rally. This is reminiscent of the days of the lynch mobs.

Unable to contain rage

With every uptick in Obama's numbers, one detects an increasing number of conservatives who can no longer contain their rage. But why are these people so angry? Sarah Palin, McCain's hockey mom running mate, appears to have been assigned the task of whipping up fury and sowing seeds of fear in people's mind via innuendo. In reference to Obama, she says, "I am fearful he does not see the United States as you and I do" and she also describes him as one who has been palling around with terrorists. Other negatives emanating from the McCain/Palin camp is that Obama is Muslim, so confuse his name with Osama bin Laden and always refer to Hussein, his middle name which is Arab in origin and means Handsome One, say he hates America, is a terrorist and dangerous.

Does this make Obama a terrorist?

Our forebears used to say, 'Show me you company and ah tell you who you are?' The McCain/Palin strategy is to charge Obama with the sins of persons he had links with, even if those links are tenuous. Can the 1960s hippie Bill Ayers, who belonged to a radical student group called the Weathermen, be styled an Obama friend? As I understand it, Ayers' motivation to bomb public buildings was a means of stopping the Vietnam war so that fewer Americans would be killed. Like many terrorists of yesterday, he has put on a suit of respectability and is now an academic. Obama served on a board with Ayers who, interestingly, was picked by a Reagan ambassador. Does that make him a terrorist?

Then there is the Reverend Jeremiah Wright. He is known for preaching hatred from the pulpit. By being a member of his congregation does this make Obama guilty of some atrocity any more than someone who is a member of a Catholic Church whose priest molests little boys? Sarah Palin's husband once belonged to a fringe party in Alaska which hates America and wants to secede. Does this mean Sarah Palin hates America too? So guilt by association may not work.

If both Obamas' parents were white, his place in the White House would be assured. He is a smart man, displaying more political savvy than either Bush, Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter or Richard Nixon. But he is only half-white and for election purposes the white half is ignored. If one listens keenly to the people who are working on the ground for Obama one will understand that race will have a significant impact on this election. According to a steelworker who makes telephone calls from Obama's campaign office in Pennsylvania, race is constant in conversations with voters. He estimates that one in 20 persons say they would not vote for someone who is black.

Those who are naïve to think that race doesn't matter in America had better think again. The Republicans do not need to play the race card because it is always bubbling below the surface. However, Republicans have perfected the art of sleaze if we think back to how they invented a toxic soup of rumour that McCain had fathered an illegitimate child when he was up against George Bush for the Republican nomination in 2000.

The key to this election could lie in the hands of the under-50s many of whom care less about race than their parents.

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