Playing the race card has failed, big-time, in a state senate primary in St. Louis, where incumbent Senator Patrick Dougherty, who is white, has defeated State Representative O. L. Shelton, who is black, in the Democratic primary. The district is predominantly black. Late in the campaign, Shelton had run an ad in a newspaper whose readership is mostly black saying, “Let’s Take Back” the district.” Two-thirds of the voters have decided to keep Dougherty.
