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

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.
(More Election 2008 stories.)