Obama's Black Support Shows Its Limits

[DeepModem Mom]

NYT/AP: Obama's Black Support Shows Its Limits
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: March 9, 2008

CHICAGO (AP) -- Barack Obama would not be leading the Democratic presidential race without the enthusiasm and high turnout of black voters. They spearheaded his comeback win in South Carolina, where Obama trounced Hillary Rodham Clinton and John Edwards with the backing of four out of every five black voters. They provided his margin of victory in many other states, and will play a key role in Tuesday's primary in Mississippi, where Clinton is the underdog.

But Obama's campaign saw the limits of black support in last week's losses in Ohio and Texas, which kept Clinton's campaign alive. And the role black voters will play in the next big contest, Pennsylvania's April 22 primary, is unclear. Moreover, some analysts think it's possible Obama's heavy black support is nudging some working-class white Democrats into Clinton's camp. If true, it could be an important factor in a contest that remains remarkably tight after a year of campaigning.

Obama, the son of a white mother from Kansas and a black father from Kenya, won slightly more white votes than Clinton in Wisconsin, Virginia and a few other states last month, helping him to a string of wins and the overall lead in delegates to the party's national convention. But Clinton won nearly two out of every three white votes in Ohio, and 56 percent of those in Texas, where she also ran well among Latinos. Strategists are pondering the results, wondering if Pennsylvania's demographic similarities to Ohio will deliver another important win to Clinton in six weeks.

Ronald Walters, a University of Maryland political scientist who tracks racial trends and is writing a book on Obama, thinks Obama's strong support from blacks made it easier for some whites in Ohio and Texas to vote for Clinton. ''There's some of that,'' Walters said in an interview. He pointed to exit polls from Ohio, where 62 percent of all whites lack college degrees and many are anxious about their jobs in a weak economy. ''This is a racially sensitive group,'' he said, referring specifically to whites who earn less than $50,000 a year and did not attend college.

''They are the quintessential Reagan Democrats,'' he said. ''They feel they've been left'' and their resentment can have social and racial overtones....

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Democrats-Blacks.html

[tyne]

1. And Clinton

would have lost Ohio if not for people who stated that race was a factor.

[Bumblebee]

6. True enough -- but how is it going to change in the general election?

Or is it more important to make a statement than win the WH? In the long run, I am not sure there won't be enough sexists to sink Hillary, but, to paraphrase Rumsfield, we live in the country we have, not the country we may wish to have... In her case, at least, more women vote than men.

[TwilightGardener]

2. Trying to paint him as Jesse Jackson, the BLACK candidate. Makes it

OK for whites to ignore him.

[ClassWarrior]

3. Ann Coulter's not taking a byline anymore?

NGU.

[papau]

4. Obama played the race card for the obvious reason getting extra black votes is worth more than the

modest losses in white votes because of the way the Democratic Party gives extra weight to black areas via extra delegates as a reward for past loyalty.

I, like Obama and his advisers, do not think that net plus from his playing the race card will change in PA. He will gain because of the 90/10 AA split more than if he had let the split settle at 70/30 as it was and appeared to be stable at post his win in Iowa.

[ClassWarrior]

5. I've only heard the Radical RW ever use that vile phrase, "the race card."

Makes one wonder...

NGU.

[aquart]

7. Only racists vote for Clinton?

You know where I've found some comfort from this endless spew? SoapDish, a soap opera gossip board where a tight group of black women detest Obama and are hoping for Hillary. He just does not fool them. It crops up at the oddest moments, mostly late at night when we've run out of soap talk.