It is as I feared

A couple weeks back when I made my official endorsement of Tom Barrett for mayor of Milwaukee, I wrote

I think it is very important for Milwaukee to have a black mayor, and despite Barrett's acknowledgement that we are no longer a majority-anything city, that doesn't take the place of an African American in office. And I must say that it's a little disturbing to drive through some neighborhoods with only Barrett signs in the lawns, and then drive through other neighborhoods with nothing but Pratt signs. I don't think that perpetuating a racial divide helps anyone.

Barrett is white; his opponent, Marvin Pratt, is black. And a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel poll released Saturday shows empirically what I've seen in lawn signs: "While Pratt had a huge dominance among black voters in the primary [election February 17]--85% according to an exit poll--the white vote was split much more broadly that day, though Barrett led among white voters. The new poll shows Pratt with support from 88% of blacks who were questioned and 20% of the whites. Barrett, meanwhile, drew 66% of the white vote and 7% of the black vote." (There's a graph here.) And then the "analysis" in the piece goes on to note that Barrett has the advantage here, since there are more undecided white voters at this point.

Milwaukee is a majority-minority city, and, according to some studies, second only to Detroit in how deeply segregated the metro area is. If this election fight comes down to votes cast solely on the basis of race, we could be in for some serious trouble for the next four years.

What makes it worse is that there are still serious questions around Pratt's campaign finances, which would make a legitimate reason not to vote for him. Pratt also makes a strong rhetorical point with his "It's time" theme. The good White Liberal Guilt thing to do is vote Pratt, but I can't.

But I also fear for the city if Tom Barrett wins.