hhhhhhmmmmmm lets see Barack benefiting from being black? Lets examine this:

1. Barack gets 89% of the black vote. Advantage Obama.

2. As high as 20% of Clinton's supporters will vote for McCain if Barack is nominated because he's black. Disadvantage Obama.

3. Republican party has a greater recent history of racist members and the party has courted these members by supporting anti-affirmative action legislation and not supporting most most civil rights legislation. I'm sure many republicans on this forum will argue with that statement, but if I'm proved wrong, I will concede the point. But there is a perception of the republican party as being less than friendly towards minorties and blacks in particular.Therefore, there ARE many members of the republican party who would never vote for a black man, even moreso than that of a white woman. Disadvantage Obama.

With that being said, I think the lift given to Obama by the black vote is washed by the amount of prejudiced and racists individuals in this country who won't vote for him. So I don't think its an advantage or disadvantage either way. The funny thing is Obama has tried to avoid being the "black" candidate. Its whites on both side that seem to raise the race issue more often than not.

That being said racism is a disease that most don't want to admit. once those curtains close on election night only that person knows his/her true feelings in regards to race.