Actually, as ham-handed as that sentence is and how awful when taken out of context, I find myself having to come to his defense. (And I tend to think he's a complete jerk, so it buuuuuurns.) Based on the rest of the article, his actual point seems to be the complete opposite of what this line makes it sounds like, and though he says it very badly, I think what he means (and what I kind of can't argue with him about) is that the press is making it sound as if the election is more about race, and that race matters more to the electorate, than is actually true. But as a shitty piece of prose, that line is hard to beat.