Obama red state wins proved that African American voters can turn an election

[niceypoo]

All they need is sufficient motivation to get out and vote (95% FOR Obama.) They are our 'base.'

There were several 1% - 2% races that were called for Obama. That is where the massive African American voter turnout really made the difference. Many other southern red states narrowed the gap because of the high African American voter turnout.

The rest of the Democratic party are like herding cats.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/11/08/MNAG140K4T.DTL&type=politics

Obama inspired African Americans to vote in record numbers this year, and analysts believe that will continue as more closely contested elections in Southern states are likely to keep black voters engaged. And the growing political muscle of Latino and Asian voters signals that, after decades of robust immigration, immigrants and their children and grandchildren are becoming full participants in the American political process.

If this keeps up I believe we can expect to see more southern states turn blue in the future.

[Captain Hilts]

1. I'm disappointed that the war in '04 wasn't movitvation enough. People got killed as a result. nt

[VeraAgnes]

4. Agreed

Secondly; the AA population is not significant enough to turn a red state blue....with the exception that 90% of the republican voters just stayed home or didn't vote. So, give credit where it is due...White people elected Obama...Asian, Hispanic, Native America ,Russian,Greek, Jewish and Muslim all elected Obama in red states.

[gatorboy]

6. To be fair, it still isn't a good motivator, for some reason. And MORE folks have been killed since.

[marmar]

7. You can't blame that one on African Americans....I think that was the so-called "Security Moms"

n/t

[Captain Hilts]

9. Not voting helped put Bush to re-election. It's equal with 'security moms'. nt

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

15. 90% of African Americans voted for Kerry.

Nice try though.

[Captain Hilts]

16. Yes, they did. Those that turned out. But too many stayed home. nt

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

18. AA turnout was 60% in 2004, statistically insignificant difference with white turnout.

[niceypoo]

20. But they didnt turn out in the numbers we saw this year

Yes, Kerry recieved 88% of the African American vote, but the turnout was much smaller.

Why do you think Republicans target African American voters? Rove realized that they make up almost 1/3 of the Democratic party.

http://southernstudies.org/facingsouth/2008/10/election-2008-can-registration-gains.asp">According to Obamas campaign a large African American turnout (2007 vs 2008 numbers) is the difference between a 7% McCain lead and a 2.3% lead in Ga.

This is exactly why we won N Carolina.

"According to the latest NC State Board of Elections statistics, 422,200 new voters have been added to the NC rolls in 2008.

33.4% of that new growth has come from African-American registrations. The share of the NC electorate that is African-American has grown almost 1%, to 21% of NC voters.

Starting with the assumption that 95% of African-American voters will go for Obama and two-thirds of non-black voters go for McCain -- a generous number -- Obama's starting baseline is 46% in NC.

But then you start adding in all the other factors that are working in Obama's favor in NC:

* As Silver noted in Georgia, we can assume a higher rate of turnout among newly-registered -- and newly-energized -- voters. This will be especially true in North Carolina, which will have two weeks of same-day registration and voting this month -- ensuring that new registrants will be voting. If current trends hold, those new registrants will disproportionately be voting for Obama.

* Leading this trend is the growing share of African-American voters. If the African-American share of the electorate rises 1% by Election Day, Obama's overall baseline rises to 47% in NC."

African Americans are loyal Democratic voters, that is a given. Turnout is the the key.

[Alcibiades]

2. Without a doubt, this was key in North Carolina

Not that it mattered electorally, but it was a moral victory here.

[niceypoo]

3. If it becomes a trend, we can expect to win a lot of future elections

Indeed, N Carolina is like icing on the cake!

[Alcibiades]

5. The trend I'd like to see is all of use working our asses off

Not in front of keyboards, but door to door. That's what worked here, and that's what will continue to win elections for us--that, and successful progressive policies.

[CitizenPatriot]

8. tons of white people voted for him, too

a large segment of the African American community, at least here in GA, were disenfranchised beyond the comprehension of people who don't live here. It took a major, consistent effort to get this group mobilized, registered, get an ID card, etc. That's a lot of work to do for people who don't have cars, don't have any motivation to vote for someone because nothing has ever changed for them here.

I wish Iraq had been enough, too. It broke my heart in 2004. But the south also has a lot of military bases and the attitude is different toward service. It's a way out, it's expected, it's honorable and it's just the way things are.

Not excusing it; just trying to explain it.

[niceypoo]

12. We need to stop republican voter intimidation and disenfranchisement

which almost always targets African American voters.

1. Standardize all federal elections
-All states follow the same set of standards/protocols for federal elections

2. Mandate open source voting machine machine software.
-Stop privatizing the collection and tallying of votes.

3. Make voter intimidation/fraud and disenfranchisement a Federal Crime with harsh penalties.
-Make it a hate crime if it targets racial groups

if we take these steps I think even more states will become tossups or blue

We now have the political capital, we must be willing to spend it

[goclark]

10. I am African American and I'm not sure that we

had a huge push to make everyone in our community vote for Obama in our community.

That's hard to believe but I worked voter registration every week here in Los Angeles and attended many rallies and I always saw a mix of races in attendance.

One massive GOTV rally was held at the office site of our new Los Angeles County Supervisor, Mark Ridley- Thomas. The beautiful thing about it was that there were Whites/Blacks and Latinos coming to work the entire day to knock on door in the predominately African American community -- it was beautiful.

In fact, there were many African Americans that were solidly for Clinton, especially our Congress people ( Diane Watson, John Lewis, Maxine Waters to name a few.)Slowly events happened that led to many African Americans growing to love Obama.

Our code words seemed to be, " Fired Up! Ready To Go!"
But those were the words that all races were using.
In that sense the GOTV effort was like the Underground Railroad.

Just as there were many other races that loved Obama and worked without stopping for him to be in the White House, African Americans worked solidly toGOTV but we wanted every race to vote because we knew just our votes wouldn't be enough.

I was solidly working for him from the day he announced but I didn't see any immediate rush to make sure that every single Black person voted for Obama.

In one instance, it may be true --- the young Hip/Hop generation felt it was so cool to be for him and that was a good inspiration for that age group.

Obama rarely single us out as a Race that I can recall.
Don't remember him ever saying " Now you know that I'm counting on you to make me win!"

It was just his magic, his HOPE for CHANGE, his positive message that we joined many Americans in celebrating with our votes.

Are we proud ~ YES!!!!!! It is an unbelievable feeling, can't begin to describe it!!! :bounce:

[niceypoo]

11. The turnout is the important part

Kerry got 88% of the African American vote and Obama got 95%. It is all about the turnout.

[ellacott]

19. I think Kerry got close to 92% of the vote

Bush got less than 10% of the AA vote in 2004.

[W_HAMILTON]

13. I think you're wrong.

From a lot of things I've been reading around here lately, a minority group like African Americans is not large enough to decide the outcome of any elections.

Sorry :(

[niceypoo]

14. African Americans make up 13% of the population

43 percent of voters are Democrats, 34 percent are Republicans. This election 95% of Blacks voted Democratic. It only takes a couple percent to take an election. Do the math, 13% is huge.

[goclark]

21. Yea for African Americans and yea for America

I'm AA and I have happily voted for every Democratic candidate since the 60's.

And,all of the Democratic Presidents have been White!

:bounce: for Americans that voted with us! :patriot:

[W_HAMILTON]

23. You're right.

I just didn't add a sarcastic graphic to my other post, and now I can't go back and edit one in.

I completely agree with you, I just find it ironic that people are agreeing with this thread, whereas there are many other threads that claim that African Americans were too small of a percentage to affect the passage of Prop-8 in California.

[Captain Hilts]

17. On the state level they sure are in some states! You only need to win by one!

[W_HAMILTON]

22. Oh, I know.

Maybe I should add a sarcastic graphic for my post.

I'm just pointing out the irony shown between a thread like this, and the many other threads that say African Americans are too small of a percentage to affect the passage of Prop-8 in California.