Racism in Montana in 2008?

A phone call several weeks ago alerted me to one of the most alarming — yet painfully unsurprising — things I have seen in a long time.

On the Web site for the Bigfork Eagle, Hungry Horse News and Whitefish Pilot is a polling feature called "Valley Viewpoints," where readers can weigh in on questions concerning November's presidential election.

As of Sept. 16, about 1,000 people had voted on the question "Which of these will influence your vote in the November election." Incredibly, 80 percent of respondents had chosen "race" above "issues," "experience," "party" and even "religion." "Issues" were a distant second with a paltry 16 percent.

Race? In 2008? You've got to be kidding. Vote for John McCain or Ron Paul or Bob Barr or whoever, but for God's sake, do it because you favor their tax policy or stance on universal health care, not because they happen to be white.

When I moved to Montana to attend college in Missoula, a fellow dorm resident asked me, noting my still-evident Tennessee twang, if people were really still racist in the south. Yes, I told him, some people really were. He was shocked and appalled, explaining that Montana was far beyond such reprehensible actions.

This, of course, is hooey. There are plenty of shallow, stupid people in this great state who harbor ill will against others based solely on their skin color, just as there are plenty of such people everywhere.

Obama's sometimes admittedly naive call for unity and change stands little chance in a place where he's written off as a second-class citizen because of his pigmentation.

Anyone who has accomplished what any of the presidential candidates has accomplished to run for the world's highest office deserves to be judged on their merits and shortcomings. Everyone deserves better than to be treated as if it were still 1855.

Alex Strickland is the editor of the Bigfork Eagle.

(Editor's note: It's possible the same person or group of people could have voted "race" multiple times, indicating that such Web-based polls are not fool-proof.)