INSTITUTE, W.Va. - Race was not on the mind of Michael Whitaker, 18, as he defended Barack Obama during an impassioned conversation in the student union at West Virginia State University.
Whitaker, an African-American majoring in political science, touted Obama's views on health care and taxes. But three white classmates preferred John McCain, and one sarcastically suggested that they were "too white" to come around to Whitaker's point of view.
Whitaker brushed aside the comment. But after the group broke up, he fretted openly that race would affect the outcome of the presidential contest in West Virginia and elsewhere.
"People want someone who closely represents them, and race plays a major role in that," Whitaker said.
With Election Day less than two weeks away, West Virginia offers a case study on the role that race plays in American politics and an intriguing test for the Obama candidacy.
After getting trounced in the West Virginia primary, Obama has made gains in a state in which nearly six in 10 registered voters are Democrats and which has been a part of every Democratic win for nearly a century. Woodrow Wilson in 1912 was the last Democrat to win the White House without gaining West Virginia's electoral votes.
But challenges remain in a state where blacks make up just over 3 percent of the population. West Virginians haven't seen much of the candidate as his campaign has concentrated on other states considered more likely to vote Democratic, and many have yet to warm up to him.
A survey conducted by West Virginia Wesleyan College this week found that race factors into the decision of nearly one in five West Virginia voters.
Some recent polling, however, has shown the Democrat closing the gap, prompting some analysts to label the state a tossup. If Obama is to carry West Virginia next month, it is clear that he needs to sway some voters who are not comfortable with his heritage.
"The argument is, they'll go for McCain because of race," said Robert Rupp, a political scientist at Wesleyan. "But I'd argue it's more than race. They weren't comfortable with [John] Kerry or [Al] Gore, and nobody used the race card then. It was more of, 'That person, I just can't identify with.' "
The discussion, to be sure, extends beyond West Virginia. With the first black nominee on a major party ticket, veteran observers remain uncertain how racial divisions will affect the outcome.
