As Obama continues to rise in the polls, Democrats continue to worry about Harold Ford Jr.,’s recent experience in the Tennessee senatorial election. Apparently, some voters who told pollsters they would vote for him because they thought it was politically correct to say so, could not bring themselves to pull the lever for an African American once they entered the booth.

But maybe it won’t be an issue in 2008 because of the high ratings earned by television’s “24,” paradoxically Rush Limbaugh’s favorite action series. (I say paradoxically because Limbaugh continues to air his odious anti-Obama “Magic Negro” song.)

From its inception, the only honest and admirable presidents in “24” have been two African Americans, the Palmer brothers. It is true, of course, that they occasionally and grudgingly give their official approval to Jack Bauer’s use of torture in the name of national security. But for more than five years, a large national audience has grown accustomed to rooting for the those two African American pillars of integrity in the Oval Office. Will that exposure make it easier for some skeptical voters to pull the lever for Obama in 2008?