The latest ABC News/Washington Post poll found that a supermajority of respondents did not think Barack Obama's ties to Bill Ayers represent a "legitimate issue":

Skepticism about the Ayers issue was one of the factors cited by Colin Powell in his endorsement of Obama yesterday, and in the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll, likely voters broadly agree: 60 percent say Obama's relationship with Ayers is not a legitimate issue in the presidential campaign; 37 percent say it is.

I can't help but wonder whether this would be the case in the absence of a global financial crisis.  My sense is that voters are simply more focused right now than they were on the cusp of the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections.  The common disconnect between who's in the White House and what's going on around their kitchen table seems to have been largely erased.  Folks know how important this decision is to their lives and the future of the country.  As such, casting their vote simply on the basis of character, personality, or even bigotry, has become a luxury they can't afford.