Lyndsey Layton at the Washington Post writes:
Black Turnout Could Decide House Races
Obama Poised to Help 10 White Democrats
[Larry] Kissell is one of at least 10 white Democrats in white-hot competitive U.S. House races who are counting on a surge of black voters to carry them into office. Most are challenging incumbent Republicans, and they are central to Democratic hopes of picking up as many as 25 additional seats, strengthening the party's control of the House.
Many of these races are in Southern states where African Americans make up a sizable minority. But the dynamic is also at play in such states as Maryland, Ohio and Connecticut.
As many as 70 percent of voting-age African Americans could cast ballots on Election Day, said David Bositis of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, who studies black voter patterns. That number would far exceed the 56 percent who voted in 2004 and bust the record for black participation set in the 1968 election. ...
A hint of how Obama might affect congressional races came during a special election in Mississippi this spring. In the contest to fill a vacancy in the 1st Congressional District, Republicans tried to link Democrat Travis Childers, who is white, to Obama, as a way to turn off white voters in the conservative district. Instead, black turnout doubled in the two counties with the largest African American populations and Childers won.
Hundreds of miles north, black voters are playing a decisive role in Connecticut's 4th Congressional District, home to the manicured estates of Greenwich and Darien. Republican incumbent Christopher Shays is fighting a vigorous challenge by Democrat Jim Himes, an investment banker-turned-social entrepreneur.
Total U.S. military fatalities in Iraq since March 2003: 4186
Total coalition fatalities in Iraq: 4500
Total Iraqi fatalities since invasion: Unknown, but possibly as high as 1.4 million.
Total U.S. military fatalities in Afghanistan since 2001: 616
Total coalition fatalities in Afghanistan: 996
Afghan fatalities since 2001: Unknown - tens of thousands
The Overnight News Digest is posted and includes the story: Obama sign stolen from minister's yard, replaced with Confederate flag.
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