Racism v. Sexism

Exit polls from the Democratic Primary Race:

Georgia:

In deciding your vote for president today, was the race of the candidate:

Category	% Total	Clinton	Edwards	Obama
Important	21	24	3	72
Not important	78	34	1	65

In deciding your vote for president today, was the gender of the candidate:

Category	% Total	Clinton	Edwards	Obama
Important	18	42	3	54
Not important	81	29	1	69

Wisconsin:

In deciding your vote for president today, was the gender of the candidate:

Category	% Total	Clinton	Obama	Uninstructed
Important	15	63	37	-
Not important	84	38	61	0

In deciding your vote for president today, was the race of the candidate:

Category	% Total	Clinton	Obama	Uninstructed
Important	13	46	50	-
Not important	86	40	59	0

Ohio

In deciding your vote for president today, was the gender of the candidate:

Category	% Total	Clinton	Obama
Important	17	60	40
Not important	82	53	45

In deciding your vote for president today, was the race of the candidate:

Category	% Total	Clinton	Obama
Important	20	59	39
Not important	79	53	45

Kentucky

In deciding your vote for president today, was the gender of the candidate:

Category	% Total	Clinton	Obama	Unc.
Important	16	79	19	1
Not important	82	63	33	3

In deciding your vote for president today, was the race of the candidate:

Category	% Total	Clinton	Obama	Unc.
Important	21	81	16	2
Not important	78	61	35	3

Georgia, Southern and half Black; Wisconsin, Northern and all White; Ohio, mixed and mixed; Kentucky, Southern, and all White.

In Georgia, and in other Southern states with a high concentration of African-American voters, Barack Obama's race helped him. In Wisconsin, a state full of Northern whites, it also helped him, albeit slightly. In Ohio, voters who said they prefered Clinton because of race provided half of her margin of victory. In Kentucky, full of white Southerners and not much else, Clinton crushed Obama, with over 15% of voters admitting that his race was an important factor.

By contrast, aside from a slight deficit in heavy African-American areas, Clinton's gender was an overall aide to her.

This just reflects a truth that's been obscured during the campaign — despite the fact that the media sometimes engaged in easy misogyny, the make-up of the Democratic Electorate (women outnumbered men in every contest) made Clinton's gender a major asset, not an obstacle to be overcome.

Sorry, Christie, but you're just wrong.

To be fair to Whitman, she's a Republican, and women who want to run as Republicans do face hurdles because of their gender. But them's the breaks when you belong to the asshole party.