I suspect that John McCain may be closing the gap in Pennsylvania, even without looking at the numbers.  Why?  Because more Keystone State figures keep talking about how racist their neighbors are.  John Murtha accused his constituents of racism and then backed off to just call them rednecks.  Now Philadelphia Daily News columnist John Baer picks up where Murtha left off:

I think McCain’s camp is banking on Pennsylvania’s “cracker factor.”

I think the campaign believes the Democratic view – expressed by Ed Rendell last winter and Jack Murtha last week (and James Carville 22 years ago) – that there are racist tendencies among Pennsylvania voters. …

So, if you take the most recent polling – an Allentown Morning Call poll Sunday is reflective of others and puts Obama 12 points up, 52-40 – I figure McCain’s folks figure, well, heck, that’s really only 7 points and since most polls have a 3-point margin of error, maybe just 4 points, and that puts us right in the game.

Meanwhile, McCain’s campaign, in TV ads and on the stump, is calling Obama’s tax- cut proposal a “government handout” and “welfare.” McCain yesterday said it’s “just another government giveaway.”

Whom do you think that’s aimed at?

Gee, I don’t know, John — maybe people who don’t want to keep funding redistributionist policies?  Perhaps people who don’t want taxes increased?  Taxpayers who want the approaching entitlement meltdown to get fixed before creating even more entitlements?

Or are those concepts just a little too complicated for your “sophisticated” noggin?

This is what happens when the supposedly post-racial Obama campaign explicitly exploits racism as a campaign tactic.  Suddenly, every policy dispute becomes “racist”, even the most fundamental debates on the nature of government.  McCain can’t even argue against a tax policy without being accused of pandering to the drooling rednecks Baer and Murtha suddenly see surrounding them.

I’ve warned about this for months.  People like Baer and Murtha want to silence debate because they don’t have the answers for it.  They need to hide their own ignorance and stupidity by making baseless accusations in hopes of declaring vast areas of public policy off limits for discussion.  Quite frankly, it’s become the mark of stupidity and intolerance in this campaign — and it will get a lot worse if Barack Obama wins the election.