For those Montanans considering voting for Senator McCain, I hope you have a chance to see the television ad the McCain campaign started running for the ostensible purpose of suggesting that Obama is nothing but star-power. The ad begins with images of Britney Spears and Paris Hilton (young, white, sexy) and then flashes to Senator Obama. Having grown up in the American South, I knew immediately that the ad was designed to inflame deeply rooted, often unconscious fears in some Americans about black men and white women, to suggest subliminally that we not let Obama become too uppity and keep him in his place — that we keep him as “other.” Shockingly, the ad appeared not long before the McCain campaign accused Senator Obama of playing the “race card” while claiming they were keeping race out of the election! The willingness of some Republicans to exploit racial prejudices for political gain usually angers me. This time tears rolled down my face. Wouldn’t it be something if the state of Montana surprised the country and voted for a man who really wants to bring this country, and the world, together?