Racist attacks on Barack Obama are few and far between, but that hasn’t stopped the media from sensationalising them

Liberal journalists are combing the back roads of America looking for evidence of the resurgent racism being generated by the prospect of a black man becoming president. The striking thing is how little they’ve turned up in a country of 300m people with plenty of racial conflict in its history.

Here’s how the Associated Press led a roundup story on Friday: "Race, an inescapable but explosive issue on which both presidential candidates have tread carefully if not tried to ignore, is increasingly popping up as it’s becoming more likely the country will elect its first black president."

In San Bernardino County, California, the October newsletter of the Chaffey Community Republican Women, Federated, showed Obama’s face on a phoney $10 government food stamp coupon adorned with a watermelon, ribs and a bucket of fried chicken. Diane Fedele, president of the group, apologised and she had no racist intent: "It was just food to me. It didn’t mean anything else." The state GOP denounced the newsletter.

In Nevada, Colorado and Michigan, TV ads show a clip of [the Rev Jeremiah] Wright declaring "God damn America!" in a sermon. "How can we forget these hateful sermons from Obama’s pastor for over 20 years?" says one ad by the Our Country Deserves Better PAC, a Sacramento, California-based group that was formed to campaign against Obama.