Have a link for the article? Author's name?

Could it be this article? It goes into some detail about how Reagan's positions were calibrated to raise the salience of race for white voters. It also contains a major shortcoming: while Reagan did indeed stump on racially-charged issues like "welfare queens," his overall campaign (see the TV ads he ran on The Living Room Candidate web site) focused on more mundane things like the terrible economy and Iran hostage crisis.