There's a new candidate for president chanting "Den-ver! Den-ver!" Independent presidential candidate and, some say, Al Gore spoiler Ralph Nader has a bone to pick with the DNC's heir apparent, Barack Obama, and plans to take them to task at August's Democratic National Convention. From The Rocky Mountain News:

"He wants to show that he is not a threatening . . . another politically threatening African-American politician," Nader said. "He wants to appeal to white guilt. You appeal to white guilt not by coming on as black is beautiful, black is powerful. Basically he's coming on as someone who is not going to threaten the white power structure, whether it's corporate or whether it's simply oligarchic. And they love it. Whites just eat it up."

Earlier in the interview, he asks why Obama isn't pressing certain issues, saying, "Is it because he wants to talk white? He doesn't want to appear like Jesse Jackson?

The interviewer asked him to clarify that he was saying that Obama does try to "talk white," and Nader's reply was, "Of course."

The interweb is abuzz with headlines of the "gaffe" (is this really going to hurt Nader's chances?), so I thought I would give the Nader campaign a call and see what they had to say for themselves. A lot, it turns out.

Dear Racists,

Good afternoon. How's it going? That's a rhetorical question, but part of the reason I'm writing to you is that things are going really well for you. According to a new Washington PostABC News poll, you guys and gals are in a position to swing this year's election.

In that Washington Post/ABC News poll, 3 in 10 voters say that race will influence their votes this coming November. From The Washington Post:

As Sen. Barack Obama opens his campaign as the first African American on a major party presidential ticket, nearly half of all Americans say race relations in the country are in bad shape and three in 10 acknowledge feelings of racial prejudice...on feelings of personal racial prejudice: Thirty percent of whites and 34 percent of blacks admit such sentiments.

Now, I want to focus on the white racists here, because I think we all already know who all the black people are voting for. Wink-wink. Besides, at 11% of the electorate, 34% of black people doesn't even cover the margin of error.

Listen, I'm not here to try to get you to change your ways, or stand around singing Kum-Ba-Ya. No, I'm just here to tell you that, whether you're the kind of deep-fried, bone marrow racist who sits around thinking up new slurs like "moon cricket" because the standard ones just don't have the palette required to express your special kind of hatred, or you're one of those closeted racists who relies on shifting social norms to get your piece in, Barack Obama is the candidate for you.

Boy does this sting. After my piece on how the purported Michelle Obama "Whitey" video was nothing but an idiotic rumor started by a bunch of hacks, some intrepid soul actually went out and tracked the hateful performance down. Still working on getting all the egg off my face. So here it is. Brace yourselves, it's bad. Really bad:

I really, really think they just might be in til the convention. Remember the calculus, assuming Obama gets the nomination, if he becomes president this was probably her last best shot at the White House. But if he loses in November, Hillary is all set up to say, "I told you so" and she will be the top prospect in 2012 versus a John McCain.

By that time I speculate that McCain will have angered everyone on both sides of the aisle and will likely be ripe for defeat. But in either scenario it makes sense for her to stay in. She really has nothing to lose and as Republicans have known for years and the Democrats are, oh so slowly! beginning to realize, the Clintons are in it for themselves, not the party.

To which I present Bill Clinton's big speech today:

Clinton spent more than six minutes calmly discussing what he called a "frantic effort to push her out" of this race, saying that no one asked Ted Kennedy, Jesse Jackson or Gary Hart to end their presidential campaigns early.

Clinton also spoke against bullying superdelegates to make up their minds, saying, "I cant believe it. It is just frantic the way they are trying to push and pressure and bully all these superdelegates to come out. 'Oh, this is so terrible: The people they want her. Oh, this is so terrible: She is winning the general election, and he is not. Oh my goodness, we have to cover this up.'"

...

"If you notice, there hasn't been a lot of publicity on these polls I just told you about," Clinton said. "It is the first time you've heard it? Why do you think that is? Why do you think? Don't you think if the polls were the reverse and he was winning the electoral college against Sen. McCain and Hillary was losing it, it would be blasted on every television station? You would know it wouldn't you? It wouldn't be a little secret. And there is another Electoral College poll that I saw yesterday had her over 300 electoral votes, yeah. She will win the general election is you nominate her. They're just trying to make sure you don't."

Nice. It's fun to see that Bill Clinton is complaining of unfair press coverage. Considering his anointed run in 1992, it's a little hard to take, but his annoyance at the current turn of events helps. A lot.

While the Democrats will make history no matter who wins their nomination, Republicans are stuck in the past on a big issue: diversity within the party. As Politico points out, it's been six+ years since the GOP has elected an African-American governor, senator or House member. And here's a stat that floored me:

Only four black Republicans - (former Oklahoma Rep. J.C.) Watts, former Massachusetts Sen. Edward Brooke, former Connecticut Rep. Gary Franks and the late Illinois Rep. Oscar Stanton De Priest - have been elected to Congress since Reconstruction.

And the streak isn't going to end any time soon. Of the tiny number of minorities running as Repubs in '08, none are expected to even come close to winning.

It was only three years ago when the RNC's then-chair Ken Mehlman unveiled an ambitious plan to recruit minority candidates and voters and transform the face of the party. What happened? Well, nothing. It was apparently just a PR stunt that went nowhere. J.C. Watts said: "I've never gotten the impression that it was institutionalized."

Many Republicans admit that the lack of diversity is a problem, but in a party with no shortage of problems it's not even close to the top of the list. As one party insider put it: "the party is so broke and distracted that wooing strong minority candidates is a luxury it simply cannot afford right now."

The Obama campaign doesn't talk about it much, but will admit when pressed that they started this process knowing that there was a small, but not insignificant, segment of the population that just will not vote for an African-American.

Running just below the surface in the campaign and in the media, is the undercurrent of racism still to be found in pockets around the country - rural, urban and suburban. While Senator Obama's message is inclusive and pan-racial, the workers on the ground have felt the sting that the campaign itself does not wish to highlight and the media has mostly ignored.

The Washington Post today has some harsh stories of field workers, phone bankers and surrogates having doors slammed in their faces, being called the most derogatory of racial terms and physically threatened.

Victoria Switzer, a retired social studies teacher, was on phone-bank duty one night during the Pennsylvania primary campaign. One night was all she could take: "It wasn't pretty." She made 60 calls to prospective voters in Susquehanna County, her home county, which is 98 percent white. The responses were dispiriting. One caller, Switzer remembers, said he couldn't possibly vote for Obama and concluded: "Hang that darky from a tree!"

Documentary filmmaker Rory Kennedy, the daughter of the late Robert F. Kennedy, said she, too, came across "a lot of racism" when campaigning for Obama in Pennsylvania. One Pittsburgh union organizer told her he would not vote for Obama because he is black, and a white voter, she said, offered this frank reason for not backing Obama: "White people look out for white people, and black people look out for black people."

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That line is what we in the biz call a logical fallacy. As logical fallacies go, it's pretty innocuous, even comical. I picture an apoplectic bureaucrat somewhere screaming into the face of the 987th person to come to the window and ask, "What's wrong with my Driver's Manual?"

A far more dangerous logical fallacy is all the rage now, and it has a lot to do with intentionally blank pages. The press has given John McCain a free ride for years now, and as a result, 45% of Hillary Clinton's supporters have something like this to say:

If Hillary Clinton doesn't win, I will vote for McCain in November.

It is a happy accident that David Knowles wrote about this phenomenon earlier today, unbeknownst to me. This serves as an excellent companion to that story.

Now, I understand disappointment, and a certain amount of bitterness toward an opponent in a hard-fought contest, but this makes about as much sense as rooting for the Red Sox if the Yankees lose, unless you're Rudy Giuliani, or saying that if you can't have your favorite flavor of ice cream, you'll take cyanide instead.

My theory is that many of these voters have the same general idea about McCain that the rest of America does, that he's a free-thinking, maverick moderate who even leans to the left here and there, a great down-the-middle choice. Let's test that theory out. This poll is for Hillary Clinton supporters only. Take it, and then read on.

Although I reported last week, with much disappointment, that John Edwards does not intend to endorse a candidate before the Democratic National Convention, he seems to be finding other ways to get his point across. First, there was this possible "slip", and then, this weekend, he had some words of caution for Hillary Clinton. Via CNN's Political Ticker:

Appearing on CBS' Face the Nation, Edwards said Clinton has to be "has to be really careful that she's not damaging our prospects," with continuing to take jabs at Obama.

"She doesn't need my advice, she knows this full well," Edwards said. "If she makes the case for herself, which she's completely entitled to do, she has to be really careful that she's not damaging our prospects, the Democratic Party, and our cause, for the fall."

Now, I do still believe that Edwards would do everyone a favor by weighing in, but this may just do the trick. It sounded pretty friendly for a shot across the bow, but it was also unmistakable. The warnings aren't going to get any nicer.

I renew my recommendation that Hillary drop out now and accept the VP nod, while it can still look like it was her idea. The longer she holds on now, the harder the push will be.

Former presidential candidate John Edwards made an appearance on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" this morning. Since Edwards has left the race, the hot topic for any interview with him has been who he is going to endorse - if he endorses at all. Today was no exception. Host Mika Brzezinski questioned Edwards rather aggressively (sans Joe this morning) on the matter. While watching this live this and on the first pass, I thought he was still being annoying coy about the whole thing - praising the candidates equally - but noting that Sen. Cinton needs to be careful not to further split the party. My esteemed colleague Tommy Christopher comments on her recent divisive remarks here.

Edwards appearance on NBC's Today show this morning, however, showed the NC Senator singling out Obama for some praise. As Reuters reports:

"What he brings to the table is the capacity, number one, to unite the Democratic Party," Edwards, a former North Carolina senator, told NBC's "Today" show.

"Number two, to bring in new voters, to bring in people who haven't been involved in the process over a long time and to get people excited about this change."