Monday, January 14

Election 2008 - The Year of the Black Voter?

It seems that every Presidential Election has some new sort of so-called influential voter block such as the 'Soccer moms' and then the 'NASCAR dads'.

So who is it going to be in 2008?

I think I am going to put my money on 'Black voters'. For all too long they have faithfully voted en-mass for whoever was the Democratic candidate for President. Race had not been an issue before as all the candidates were white men. But now, thanks to Obama, black voters are making choices and it is having an effect.
Somewhat surprisingly, as the campaign has tightened, racial tensions have bubbled to the surface with the two camps exchanging accusations. Those tensions are reflected in this week’s polling data. Overall, Clinton and Obama are close nationally in the Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll. But, among white voters, Clinton leads 41% to 27%. Among African-American voters, Obama leads 66% to 16%. - Rasmussen Reports
This is interesting, because what will those black voters do if Obama does not win the Democratic nomination. That is Hillary's crux. She needs to damage Obama but not do so in a way to piss off the very same black voters that she is going to need to beat whoever the Republican nominee is. The joke is, there is no way that she can do it. If Obama does not win the nomination, the blame will be placed on Hillary for either directly or indirectly sabotaging his campaign no matter who might be responsible.

As acrimonious as the Democratic Primaries are getting at the moment, I suspect that we have seen nothing yet.The Democratic base is undergoing a power shift, but oddly enough, not towards the netroots.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

this will be interesting, seeing what happens. personally i don't think people need worry about either candidate. i seriously doubt this country will elect a woman and (i don't believe) obama can't beat a republican candidate.

i still like fred. :) go fred!