By Peter Mannino

Anger and violence have broken out during the election. One of the candidates has been threatened repeatedly, and the mob mentality in crowds threatens to turn to riots and mass violence. These are the types of events that we expect to hear about in developing democracies in countries such as Southeast Asia or Africa, but this may become the scene in our very own country.

For the past two weeks Sen. John McCain has been taking a hit in the polls and, as a result, we have seen the beginning of newer, more aggressive attacks from his campaign, especially from his running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. Her role on the Republican ticket has gone from the conservative darling who was supposed to solidify the Republican base to an attack dog who is viciously mauling Sen. Barack Obama’s character and intentions. Over the last week she has been saying that we do not know who the “real Obama” is (funny, considering we have only known Palin for about seven weeks) and has been quoted as saying at a rally that Obama is “palling around with terrorists.”

Fear-mongering, anyone?

With these types of scare tactics, is it any surprise that McCain’s supporters have become scared of and angry at Obama? This hatred has really shown itself during McCain’s campaign rallies. At a rally in Minnesota, one of the supporters said that he is scared of Obama because he is a father-to-be and does not want his child born during an Obama presidency. At another rally, one man raged, “I’m mad. I’m really mad. And what’s going to surprise you? It’s not the economy. It’s the socialists taking over our country.”

CNN political analyst David Gergen (who spoke at the University last spring) believes that the rallies have the type of atmosphere that could easily lead to violence. He has said that the candidates need to calm down the masses before violence actually does break out.

To his credit, McCain has defended Obama whenever his supporters have these angry outbursts saying that Obama is a “decent person.” Of course, what one hand giveth the other hand taketh away because Palin is still on the trail advertising Obama’s supposed links to domestic terrorists and inspiring fear in the hearts of Americans.

Are these attacks from conservatives simply happening because, well, Obama makes for an easy target? No-the Clintons also faced such unfounded attacks against their characters that were meant to inspire fear among voters. For example, columnist Paul Krugman pointed to a story written in the right-wing Wall Street Journal which claimed that Sen. Hillary Clinton played a part in former Clinton White House Deputy Counsel Vince Foster’s death, even though it was officially declared a suicide.

So if attacks from Republicans impugning the character of a Democratic candidate are not uncommon, then why is the atmosphere at McCain rallies so uncharacteristically angry?

I do not want to be accused of “playing the race card,” but I really do think race matters in this instance. America is only about 40 years removed from the race riots of the 1960s, and I am sure that many Americans can still remember the fear they had that the riots would spread to their neighborhoods. Most of these people probably do not consciously admit that race plays a part in their anger, but as reported by The New York Times’ Nicholas Kristof, “Research suggests that 50 percent or more of whites have unconscious biases that sometimes lead to racial discrimination.” Perhaps some of these voters are still threatened by the rise of an African-American because of the fear they felt growing up in a very racially divided America.

As of today there has not been any violence during the campaign and hopefully there never will be. As the election draws nearer, an Obama presidency is becoming more likely, and I hope that cooler heads will prevail on the Republican side.

Peter Mannino is a sophomore political science student. You may e-mail him at [email protected].