A Hopefully Sane Look at the AA Margins from a Bernie Supporter
I know some rock stupid, low-information, vote-against-interests WHITE voters in the South. It's a laughably small sample size, but it helps me get a grip on the margins among that cohort. To be clear there is a full information, reasonable case to be made for HRC, I just know some people are incapable of making it, yet still capable of voting.
Black margins for HRC are more of a mystery to me. Low information, celebrity voting can't explain that gap on its own. Not even close. So what do you think explains it?
For it to need explaining, my premise is that Bernie is not THAT much worse than HRC by any measure on platform, positions and statements with regard to issues pertaining to the black community. If you'll go that far with me, after looking all over for some anecdotes and trying to square it with HRC's margins prior to IA in 2008, here's where I'm at on it:
1. Black voters are community voters, and less the sort of 'organic' label-seeking purity-minded "does he/she speak to me," inconsistency-obsessed white liberal voters that I know so well in my home state of MN.
2. There's nothing necessarily wrong with this, and it is many respects a less vain and isolated approach to the ballot.
3. Because of this, there is an inescapably high bar for someone to win this community in the South on the issues when that person loses on the community connection, barring something spectacular on either side.
You can walk down the street in GA and find someone with comparable or superior bona fides on civil rights to Bernie's. That HRC's record is even less compelling doesn't matter because the community knows and accepts her. It's not that Bernie is terrible or even worse necessarily, he just hasn't built that connection, unrelated to specific policies, over decades like HRC has. Absent that spectacular something, the margin will reflect only that community gap and not so much differences in policy/statements/record.
For this to make sense, you have to acknowledge Obama's candidacy, once viable, as a spectacular event, but what do you think? I think it makes a lot more sense than (1) Hillary is a supergenius savior or (2) Bernie is useless in all respects to AA voters.
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Bernie is a bit awkward relating to POC. They face issues that don't always boil down to money (as do women) as much as they do some sort of primal resentment from *some* white dudes. So you know, hearing that the only real problems happen to everyone.... well, it is odd. I think Hillary gets there are people and places where issues are unique, and she talks about that. Also, as you have pointed out, she has a great relationship and honestly, hearing Sander people wanting her indicted is not going to play to well. Lots of awkwardness there.
Anyway- awesome to see you. Cannot wait to tell Progmom and Swag there has been a JPGray sighting. We were worried about you! 
I'm not saying Bernie is any kind of dream candidate, and that's his problem. Good enough but almost completely unknown seems to not cut it at all when it comes to the AA vote in the South.
I AM saying that he's not some nightmare horrible candidate that deserved a 70+% trouncing on record/policy, and that there's probably more to it than record/policy. There's a lot more to politics than record/policy, so that's not an unreasonable outcome given the time and effort from HRC to build such trust and mutual respect.
It's nice to see some familiar faces! 
Including the OP - I can't imagine a more persuasive spokeswoman for some "Consider Hairless" feline outreach campaign, for example.
in southern states AAs will always vote overwhelmingly for anybody other than a white man or a Republican if they have a choice.
