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Last week, I speculated about ways Senator John McCain could defeat Senator Barack Obama in November's general election. I mentioned that McCain and his allies might play the race card, but I left at least one reader wondering how that move might play out. As a result, I'd like to dedicate today’s article to such a discussion.

Before we begin our discussion of how race might be used in the general election between McCain and Obama, we need to define our terms. Luckily, our understanding of how race is used in political communication is greatly enhanced by scholars such as my former professor, Stephan Maynard Caliendo, an associate professor of political science at North Central College, and his research partner, Charlton McIlwain, an assistant professor of culture and communication at New York University. Caliendo and McIlwain, who run The Project on Race in Political Communication and co-author a blog on the subject, make a distinction between explicitly racist and implicitly racial communication.

Using Caliendo and McIlwain’s distinction, Jesse Helms' "Hands" ad, which depicts a pair of white hands crumpling a rejection letter while a voiceover rails against minorities and racial quotas, would probably lean towards being explicitly racist. Meanwhile, the ad that the Republican National Committee ran against Harold Ford, an African-American, during his 2006 Senate bid would probably be categorized as implicitly racial. The ad, which opponent Bob Corker condemned but nevertheless benefited from, features a scantily clad white actress talking about how she met Ford at a Playboy party. While nothing in the ad was explicitly racist, critics said the ad was meant to subliminally trigger white voters' fears about relationships between black men and white women.

With an understanding of the distinction between explicitly racist and implicitly racial messages, it is possible to predict how McCain and his allies might use race against Obama. Since explicitly racist messages are mostly unacceptable in today's society (see Michael Richards, Don Imus), McCain and his allies will almost certainly shy away from explicitly racist messages in mainstream forums.

But that doesn’t mean McCain and his allies won't use implicitly racial messages in pursuit of political gain over Obama. Spoken words and screened images will be carefully crafted so as to suggest that race is an issue without actually suggesting that race is an issue. Everyday words like "agenda," "beliefs," "experience" and "values" may have racial connotations behind them in a way they never have before. Literally every frame of political ads will be chocked full of important details. As you watch these ads, pay attention to the people in the ad and what they have to say, the filming locations, the use of old photos and videos, and even the font color of campaign information towards the end. These details may feature racially-sensitive snippets meant to add up to deliver one racially-charged message.

Up to this point, this article has only dealt with the pessimistic but realistic assumption that McCain and his allies will use implicitly racial messages in pursuit of political gain over Obama. But Obama will craft racial messages for his own benefit as well. He will emphasize his African-American heritage in support of his ground-breaking candidacy and at the same time speak directly to white voters to assure them that he understands and shares their concerns.

Perhaps the best indicator of where we're going in terms of how race will be used in the general election is to take a look at where we've already been. We've already seen the photo of Obama dressed in traditional Somali garb, we've regurgitated the Reverends Reverends Wright and Pfleger, and we've heard Geraldine Ferraro, Clinton's former fundraiser, say that "If Obama [were] a white man, he would not be in this position." Add to that Bill Clinton's racially-implicit remarks during the South Carolina primary and Hillary Clinton's use of the word "assassination" and I think it's safe to say that it's only going to get worse from here.