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Shhh. Don't Tell: I'm Voting for Obama

Disgusted Republicans could cancel out Bradley Effect

By Gabriel Winant,  Newser User

Posted Oct 22, 2008 2:02 PM CDT

(Newser) – There are plenty of unpredictable factors that might elude pollsters, Kathleen Parker writes in the Washington Post. Most famous is the Bradley Effect. “While some have minimized the impact of a Bradley Effect in this election, we'd be wrong to discount it. Anti-black has morphed to some degree into anti-foreigner and anti-Muslim.” But there may be a Reverse-Bradley Effect among moderate Republicans horrified by the McCain campaign.

If a Reverse-Bradley Effect occurs, it won’t be a positive endorsement of Barack Obama. “Sitting quietly at their desks are an unknown number of discreet conservatives who surprise themselves as they mull their options.” But that’s not a mandate for Obama—it’s a prayer for centrism and sobriety.

Richard Bigger, the Democratic chairman for Henderson County talks about Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama in Oquawka, Ill., Wednesday Oct. 3, 2007.
Richard Bigger, the Democratic chairman for Henderson County talks about Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama in Oquawka, Ill., Wednesday Oct. 3, 2007.   (AP Photo/Seth Perlman)
Obama campaign volunteers, Charles Sloger, and Linda Ransom, right, both of Maryland, talk with undecided voter, Mary Baylor, outside her home in Richmond, Va., Saturday, Oct. 4, 2008.
Obama campaign volunteers, Charles Sloger, and Linda Ransom, right, both of Maryland, talk with undecided voter, Mary Baylor, outside her home in Richmond, Va., Saturday, Oct. 4, 2008.   (AP Photo/Lawrence Jackson)
Unidentified supporters of Republican vice presidential candidate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, cheer at a rally in Henderson, Nev., Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2008.
Unidentified supporters of Republican vice presidential candidate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, cheer at a rally in Henderson, Nev., Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2008.   (AP Photo/Eric Jamison)
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I've received too many e-mails and had too many conversations that began, 'Just between you and me,' and ended with, 'I wouldn't want anyone at work to know,' to believe that this is an insignificant trend. - Kathleen Parker

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