First off, i dont want to say that the black vote is just one block of votes and that all blacks have the same issues and so forth.
i do want to say the blacks support the democratic party in higher % terms than evangelicals support the GOP
[around 80% of evangelicals went for bush, but 90% or so of blacks voted for kerry]
90%!!!! if you think about that number, its INSANE that the democrats dont focus more on the black vote. Imagine if the democrats could get black voters as energized as evangelicals?
In 2000, about 57% of eligible black voters voted in the election, according to the cenus bureau.
That % increased in 2004, esp in swing states like Ohio.
In Ohio, 66% of blacks voted, as did 65% of whites.
http://www.wkyc.com/news/news_fullstory.asp?id=35483
Now, think about all of this for a second. What the GOP did better than the democrats in 2004 was voter identification. They used certain aspects of folks like, if you own a gun, to TARGET that voter for the election. The democrats has a harder time doing this with being rushed in the campaign and having less resources. But how is this one--if you are black, you are SUPER likely to be a democrat. And it should be easier for a democratic group to see who is black, then who owns a gun, subscribes to X magazine, does yoga or whatever...
Bottom line: because the dems know the blacks vote dem at such a high level, we need to turn out a higher % of blacks then white voters, esp in swing states like Ohio.
I suggest that its even smarter to spend a good deal of resources to turn out the black vote than just about any other category of voters b/c there is room for growth in the % of eligible voters, and b/c of the % who voted dem.
Of course, this brings us also full circle to ask the question, why, if the black vote is so dedicated to the dems, do the dems not make a bigger effort to energize them, on and off campaign cycles? The GOP knows they get dedication from evangelicals, and therefore they try to bring these evangelicals to the table [granted, its a whole lot of spoke and mirrors] Why don't the dems do the same w/black leaders? And I mean more than having al sharpton speak at the convention. Instead, whats happened is that blacks are increasingly targets of voter intimidation/fraud. In fact, with my quick internet search of the voting % i listed for you guys, I also came across a project on civil rights at harvard that showed that as the % of blacks in a voting region goes up, so does the % of "spoiled" ballots. The GOP energizes and coddles its most loyal voters [evangelicals] and the dems cautiously address our most loyal voters, blacks, and watch as they get increasingly disenfranchised.
Addressing the issues of blacks, including voting fraud, is not only the moral thing to do for democrats [and the nation] ..its also the smartest move if you want to win elections..And bty, addressing blacks does not mean "oh, black people need healthcare and jobs like the rest of us..im for jobs and healthcare, so therefore, im for blacks" [which is mostly what kerry said]..i mean addressing real isssues, that blacks feel especially b/c they are black, in addition to all the other stuff..
