Norm Ornstein: “Democrats find their support among whites—especially working-class whites—slipping, and that is not just an artifact of differential turnout in midterm contests. Especially in the South, white voters are moving steadily more toward voting for and identifying with the Republican Party, while nonwhites, even with a small uptick in some states for GOP votes for Senate and gubernatorial candidates, are heavily Democratic. Those divisions could change, of course, but right now it is possible to see a future where the GOP is clearly and distinctly a white party, while Democrats are clearly a majority-minority party.”

“I’ll be very, very honest with you: The South has not always been the friendliest place for African Americans. It’s been a difficult time for the president to present himself in a very positive light as a leader.”

— Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA), in an interview with NBC News.

Wisconsin Attorney General nominee Brad Schimel (R) said he would have reluctantly defended a ban on interracial marriage had he been attorney general in the 1950s, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports.

Said Schumel: “It might be distasteful to me …but I’ve got to stay consistent with that — as the state’s lawyer, it’s not my job to pick and choose.”

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) slammed the Republican party for not reaching out to minorities, Politico reports.

Said Paul: “So many times, Republicans are seen as this party of, ‘We don’t want black people to vote because they’re voting Democrat, we don’t want Hispanic people to vote because they’re voting Democrat.’ We wonder why the Republican Party is so small. Why don’t we be the party that’s for people voting, for voting rights?”

“He realized I wasn’t as irrational or as crazy as people thought.”

— Rev. Al Sharpton, in an interview with Politico, on how he became President Obama’s confidant on race.

A new New York Times/CBS News poll shows “most whites reserving judgment on whether the fatal shooting of the teenager, Michael Brown, in Ferguson, Mo., was justified. Most blacks say it was not.”

“The poll also shows significant differences in how blacks and whites view the unrest that has gripped Ferguson since Mr. Brown’s killing. Most whites say they think the actions of the protesters have gone too far, while blacks are more evenly divided.”

“I apologize from the bottom of my heart. At one time, I was a very active Republican, very opposed to Obama.”

— Poplar Bluff, MO councilman Peter Tinsely (R), quoted by KFVS-TV, apologizing for racist Facebook posts he made about President Obama.

A new Pew Research poll finds that the public overall is divided over whether Michael Brown’s shooting by police in Ferguson, MO raises important issues about race or whether the issue of race is getting more attention than it deserves: 44% think the case does raise important issues about race that require discussion, while 40% say the issue of race is getting more attention than it deserves.

Wonk Wire: Ferguson exposes the the calcifying system of inequity

Rep. Steve King (R-IA) said the African-American community in Ferguson, Mo., should “settle down” and “straighten up and fly right,” the Des Moines Register reports.

He was also dismissive that racial profiling lead to distrust between residents and police.

Said King: “I’ve seen the video. It looks to me like you don’t need to bother with that particular factor because they all appear of a single origin, I should say, a continental origin might be the way to phrase that.”

Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL) “doesn’t think that the hardline stance Republicans have taken on immigration could hurt the party’s standing with Hispanic voters. Instead, he thinks Democrats are hurting their prospects with white voters,” the Huffington Post reports.

Said Brooks: “This is a part of the war on whites that’s being launched by the Democratic Party. And the way in which they’re launching this war is by claiming that whites hate everybody else. It’s part of the strategy that Barack Obama implemented in 2008, continued in 2012, where he divides us all on race, on sex, greed, envy, class warfare, all those kinds of things.”