Forget  about the fact the presidential election is centering on the economy  and jobs. There is another looming factor in this election year that may  have the greatest impact, but no one really wants to talk about.

If you happen to be an older, white male, you really don't want to breach the subject.

That  factor which could be the most determing factor in this race won't  necessarily be the one of which candidate, President Barack Obama or  Governor Mitt Romney, is best suited to deal with the economy and jobs,  but rather may come down to race.

Yes,  I know since the historic 2008 election when Obama became the nation's  1st black president, we are suppose to now be living in a post-racial  world. Reality doesn't match that hope. In fact, race may be playing an  even bigger factor this year than in 2008, but in another direction.

As Halimah Abdullah wrote in an op-ed piece today for CNN, Could Obama's Struggles with White Voters Cost Him the Election?, race is very much a key on whether Obama remains president or Romney takes the keys to the White House.

In  2008, Obama won the election capturing 42% of the white vote over his  opponent Senator John McCain. This election season, the President is  finding it difficult to get his percentage of the white vote to 40%.

In what was to be off-the-record talks with the Des Moines Register,  the President noted that his re-election strategy counted on getting  70% of the Hispanic vote, which is the fastest growing minority voting  bloc. But even if he does this, he will find the path to winning nearly  impossible unless he can begin to gel a greater percentage of the white  vote, which is still the biggest majority of all voters.

The  question that is popping up in some circles is whether the President  can tap into what conservatives call, "liberal white guilt", to be able  to shore up his standing with white voters. Yet, liberals according to  Gallup and most pollsters only account for about 21% of the total  electorate.

It  is no question that the President will once more have an overwhelming  percentage of the black vote. Romney barely registers with that voting  bloc averaging around 3-4%. Most concede that the President will have  the majority of the Hispanic vote by a healthy margin.

The next question then centers around the turnout of those minority voting blocs.

Unless  those minority voting blocs turn out in equal numbers as the 2008  election, come January, we may see Romney in the White House. This is  why the President and his team are pushing so hard during the early  voting cylce to turn out those minority voters in large numbers.

But it all goes back to what will white voters do?

Romney  is currently on track to gain 60% or more of the white voting bloc. He  many even match Ronald Reagan's historic 64% of the white vote. If that  happens or if Romney can claim to an even greater share of this voting  bloc, he wins.

As  much as we may all like to dream that we have moved into that  post-racial world, every day life tells us that as long as there is  humanity, race will play a factor. Not just within the US of A, but  around the world. It is evident in such places as India, China, Burma,  Sri Lanka, France, Germany and so many other nations where both race and  ethnicity play a role in politics.

While  I wish we could have reached that mountain where we are all blind to  color as the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. envisioned, the human  condition and its shortcomings keep getting in the way. Maybe some day  race won't matter, but in this 2012 presidential election, race may well  determine the outcome.

From  the Cornfield, it would be nice if everyone in the nation could close  their eyes, not see the color of the candidates' skin, but only see and  hear with their minds what Obama and Romney are describing as their  vision for the future of the nation over the next 4 years. Then without  race being a factor, only what we hear, we would make our decision of  which view and plan sounds the best course for the country.

http://cnn.com/2012/10/25/politics/obama-40-percent/index.html