Tonight, Senator Barack Obama will take his place in history when he accepts the Democratic Party's nomination for president.
Obama is set to become the first African-American to accept a major party presidential nomination. His big moment happens to coincide with the 45th anniversary of Martin Luther King's famous "I have a dream" speech.
This moment is certainly one for the history books.
Some would like to believe Obama's nomination is proof that the issue of color is behind us, but not so fast.
Obama may have secured the nomination, but the presidency is a different beast all together. Obama's white supporters say they will vote for him in November, but history says something different.
In the 1982 California governor's race, polls had Mayor Tom Bradley, an African-American Democrat with a commanding lead and an almost a 20-point advantage over the Republican, white candidate, George Deukmejian. But on Election Day, Bradley lost, according to some reports by more than 50,000 votes.
Analysts say it was because white voters lied to pollsters, telling them they would vote for the black candidate, but failed to follow through in the voting booth. The scenario is commonly referred to as the "Bradley Effect" - where whites state their support for black candidates to pollsters, but fail to vote for them.
Could the "Bradley Effect" rear its ugly head in November?
Some say the electoral phenomenon is a thing of the past, a racial hurdle that won't come into play with Obama. I hope they are right.
