Florida Could Hinge On Black Vote

Miami Herald:

State Sen. Frederica Wilson had a question for Barack Obama the last time he was in Miami and gave a speech at a posh, downtown hotel: When was he coming to ``the hood?''

The Democratic presidential candidate promised to campaign in Miami several times before November, including at least one stop in the black community.

But in a historic presidential election that could turn on race, outreach to African-American voters in Florida is only now getting under way.

Obama and GOP rival John McCain will both address predominantly black audiences at the National Urban League convention in Orlando this week. Obama's newest campaign office is in the heart of Broward's black community, on Sistrunk Boulevard in Fort Lauderdale. Last week, his wife huddled privately with about 30 black leaders in Miami before a fundraiser.

Obama's challenge is to mobilize a community whose participation typically lags behind the overall turnout -- in a state he has spent little time in. McCain needs to siphon off some of the black vote, while driving loyal seniors and veterans to the polls in droves.

Read the whole story: Miami Herald

Comments

[nellie]

Well, the last two elections hinged on the AA vote—on SUPPRESSING it. Maybe this time Florida and Ohio will have a little more respect for their citizens.

[gloriar8]

I am a native floridian, A.A., grew up in Tallahassee, attended college at Florida A&M ( the college Obama campaigned at) and those students are and have always been politically savvy. Being in the state capital teaches you a lot about government. If that's all he has to worry about then, he shouldn't worry.

The last two candidates were too, easy and didn't fight hard enough (I think). I.E. Gore, we had a group of emailers that kept emailing the camapign to recount the whole damn state, not just a few counties. That's like playing hide the stone under the cup gain. There are 67 counties in florida, it would've been harder to cheat in all 67, even if your brother was the governor. Then Kerry, knew he was being screwed and said that his campaign would get to the bottom of it. The next morning, with less fan fare than the night before, he rolled up his million dollar pup tent and went home.

[luvangelHussein330]

during the primaries it was the jewish and the cuban vote and how Obama struggles with those dempgraphics...this it yet another hurdle. By November it will be wild animals that is Obama's toughest dempgraphic

[Leilani]

trying to be smart, aren't yah? Watch the lingo will yah.

[Middleclassvotingbloc]

Florida will hinge on whether or not the votes are stolen. Lets face it votes were stolen in the last presidential election that is one thing that most folk dire not forget. Ohio will also hinge on whether the votes are stolen. The democrats can not depend on the DOJ to look out for the voting rights of Americans this time--they had better be prepared to watch every precinct. They will try this time like before, only the last time they tried and won.

[Sarahjan]

ComnCents

Since only only 18% of Americans have valid passports, do you think that suc h a measure will pass?

[Sarahjan]

Does that mean Barack Obama trip to Israel was unnecessary for winning him FL after all! This is going to be significant for future electoral politics in the US. I wonder why Barack Obama is not doing tiny winy bit of pandering to African Americans?

[DamageControl]

because he doesn't need to. Not even the mostly retarded media is going to suggest that Obama has a problem with the AA vote.

[ComnCents]

RePost to add missing second sentence.

One month before the election Fla will pass a law that you need a passport to vote.

However, this will backfire because the majority of passport holders will vote for BHO.

[ComnCents]

One month before the election Fla will pass a law that you need a passport to vote.

[Destin]

rasthedestroyer must work for HuffPo. I make 1 post, they respond 3 times. I responded too, but all mine have been refused to be posted. Hmmmm.

[gloriar8]

Destin- I written to Huff about the same thing. New system sucks OR the censors are posting OR they like the opinions of the posters.

[trinity]

I am sure the Sec of State's office is busy compiling their lists to make sure African Americans will be turned away at the polls saying they cannot vote, just like in 2000.

[mcole]

thast what they are doing in colorado apparently, disqualifying black people who are new regsitrants from voting.

i dont know what can be done about this, and there is no contact link on the obama website
help!!!

[FrictionSoul]

Didn't they have their voter registration dumped again? Just like the Repub Colorado SoS recently did?

[JJeff88]

Headline: "Florida Could Hinge On Black Vote"

While a pretty astute political take, I smell a trap in the form of a potential wedge issue (as in: "Look out! The blacks are attempting to hijack the presidency and take over our country!")

But in truth, every vote - whether black, white, yellow, brown, peuce or mauve - ideally is (at least in normal states) equal to every other vote. Equal opportunity exists for every single American to register and vote.

So I'd respectfully suggest the headline should read: "Florida Could Hinge on Everybody's Vote."

[rasthedestroyer]

Every citizen doesn't get the chance to vote JJ88, i'm not sure if FL. has changed it's laws but any one ever convicted of a class X felony can't vote in some states this is mostly in the southern part of the country and i believe FL. MISS, LA,GA ,and TX. have this law. What this does, is as it did in 2000 and 2004, is disenfranchise millions of voters. their trying to do it in New Mexico(SWING STATE) for this election.

[realityczech4u]

Every citizen does have the right to vote. I you commit a felony, in so doing, you forfeit that right, or to use the PC term you "disenfranchise" yourself. This should be the law in all states. Obviously you have a problem with that and I can't for the life of me figure out why.
Could it be that felons are more likely to vote Democratic?

[PumaAnn]

I said the same, but your comment got through the censors.

Frankly, the Dems have no room to talk when it comes to disenfranchising FL voters. Not after this year.

They are still worth only 1/2 vote. :)

[truthskr]

FL and MI were "disenfranchised" when they chose to broke DNC rules written by Clinton's own advisors, Ickes and McAuliffe. I personally think that the DNC rules re: when any state can have it's primary/caucus is ridiculous, but those were the rules all the same, and those were the rules agreed to in writing and verbally by both Obama and Clinton. Clinton herself repeatedly said that FL and MI should not count and should not be seated...that was of course until she needed their votes. Even if they had been seated fully, as I believe they should have never been excluded, Obama still would have won the primary.

As a caucus state member, I can tell you that many of us in caucus states didn't feel that our votes were counted the same either, by at least one candidate anyway. HRC's strategy was that CA was winner take all (WRONG) and that her campaign could afford to skip campaign in earnest in any of the caucus states because apparently our votes didn't "count" to them.

Sorry, PumaAnn, but I'm not just going to let you promote your PUMA agenda and conspiracy theories. There are plenty of us who feel disenfranchised by your candidate not only ignoring, and not counting, the caucus state votes in her imaginary "path to nomination" primary win claims, but in continually rewriting the rules in order to obtain a victory that was mathematically impossible following Super Tuesday.

[Senella]

We African Americans that are following the campaign closely, are rallying other African American by word of mouth. We know this is historic and we will come out to support Senator Obama. Senator McCain's negative attack ads will do more harm than good.

[ObamaSebelius]

People are forgetting that Obama was a community organizer. He knows how to mobilize the working class and working poor. He organized bus trips to city hall where residents could sound off on much needed changes in theri neighborhood; he coordinated letter writing campaigns to get the residents a hearing on their living conditions; and he helped set up a job training site for the residents in the area he worked in. And, he did massive voter registration drives in Chicago after he came back from HARVARD.

So Obama knows what he has to do. He knows that he needs to reach hundreds of thousands of African-Americans in Florida. He also knows he needs to reach a plurality of the 600,000 unregistered African-Americans in Georgia, as well as the scores of unregistered African-Americans in N. Carolina, S. Carolina, Alabama, Lousiana, and particularly the State of Mississippi, which is approximately 40% African-American.

Interestingly, the article stated that Florida Republicans doubted Obama's ability to mobilize hundreds of thousand of new voters to make a difference. But if the Republicans doubt the black vote's impact, in the South they should look to the ominous words of Republican Adam Putnam: "Obama could destroy us in the South" http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/07/10/gop-rep-obama-could-destr_n_111842.htmll)

Hillary Campaign underestimated him, they paid a steep price. So if Republicans underestimate him, it will likely be their undoing. IGNORE HIM AT YOUR OWN PERIL!!!

GO BARACK!!!

[rinpochet]

The difference is that if there are any problems with voting this time, O is not the kind of guy who will sit back and accept it. They will have people on the ground there to make sure everything is kosher and if there .. there will be consequences.

[1099]

How is he going to solve the problem of people not dragging their asses to the polls to vote?

I'm sure he will also have people on the ground fighting to make sure that voters who went to the wrong polling stations should be able to vote anyway and that those voters withour voter registration or ID should be able to vote as well. There's a fine line between disenfranchisement and just throwing all the rules out the window to let any a-hole vote regardless of the rules.

[rasthedestroyer]

what rule 1099 like considering blacks 3/5ths of a person not full people just 3/5ths in order to increase the number of reps you send to congress.... or are you talking about the poll taxes, which say's you got to pay to play. or maybe like they did in IND. (3) forms of I.D. to vote. Are those the rules that should go out the window???

[gloriar8]

Again, I'm from florida and am an A.A., What the heck are you talking about?!?!?!?! I'mm 55 and have in every presidential election since I was 18, including local elections. You sound racist to me. Get some facts and let go of the stereotypes. I know a butt load of whites who don't vote.