Democratic spouses push Florida voter registration, close drive

[babylonsister]

Democratic spouses push Florida voter registration drive
Effort attempts to bring new and underperforming voters to the polls


BY MARY ELLEN KLAS
[e-mail]


TALLAHASSEE -- The wives of Democratic candidates Barack Obama and Joe Biden drew a jam-packed crowd estimated at 8,000 to the Florida A & M University campus on Saturday, the end of the campaign's two-week voter registration push aimed at turning out underrepresented voters in unprecedented numbers.

Michelle Obama promised to call the student who registered the most voters. The campaign reported signing up more than 250 new voters. And FAMU officials bragged that nearly 100 percent of the student body has been registered to vote.

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For decades, African Americans, and voters ages 18-24, have shown up to vote in presidential elections at lower rates than the rest of the public. While a massive Democratic outreach reversed that trend for African Americans in most of the nation, it didn't work in Florida. The their participation rate in Florida dropped from 15 percent of the electorate in 2000 to 12 percent in 2004.

Now the Obama camp is hoping to change that. About 12 percent of the Florida electorate is black and, with poll numbers showing them favoring Obama over McCain by a 9 to 1 margin, they are determined to get as many blacks to the polls as possible.

''Right here, in the state of Florida, there are 600,000 African Americans who are still not registered to vote in Florida,'' Michelle Obama told the crowd, noting that the voter registration deadline in Florida is Oct. 6. ``600,000 votes can make and change the outcome of not just the election but the country.''

The campaign has drawn civil rights activist John Lewis to Florida to urge people to show up to vote. They brought Michigan Congressman John Conyers to talk to people in the small, predominately black North Florida town of Quincy. And they have amassed a voter registration drive that includes barbershops and beauty salons frequented most by black clientele.

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http://www.miamiherald.com/459/story/704454.html

[UncleTomsEvilBrother]

1. I was there!!!!!

I was one of the people who got to meet Michelle backstage. It was an incredible experience for me. Also, 8,000 is a rather modest count. Michelle and Jill rocked the crowd!