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April,  2008

Four More Years of Black Irrelevance  4/2/2008 Black Agenda Report 


March,  2008

Commentary: Afro-Cubans could influence an anti-Bush vote in Fla.  3/30/2008 Black America News: by Tonyaa Weathersbee, published 10/04, still topical

Clinton Apologizes to Black Voters  3/12/2008 AP 

Clintons open a deep wound with blacks  3/10/2008 Seattle PI 


February,  2008

Black Ohioans Backing Clinton Feel the Pressure to Switch  2/28/2008 NYT: “Some people call me an Uncle Tom,” said Mr. Miller, who, up for re-election, faces an opponent next week whose literature includes a picture of Mr. Obama. “There’s a lot of pressure to switch sides. There’s a lot of emotion. All I can say is thank God it’s winter and no one is outside, because there would be more than angry words on the street.”

Who Died and Made Tavis King?  2/16/2008 The Root: "He is mad because Obama has not promised to attend Smiley's "State of the Black Union" next week in New Orleans. At last year's SOTBU Al Sharpton, Cornel West and others joined Tavis is roundly criticizing Obama for not attending. Where was Barack that weekend? Oh yeah, he was announcing his bid for the U.S. presidency. This year, Obama is busy trying to win Texas, which has emerged as the firewall state for the Hillary Clinton campaign. Obama wins Texas; Hillary goes home. But Tavis & Co. think Obama should spend precious hours chatting with them about their agenda?"

Black Lawmakers Rethink Support for Clinton  2/15/2008 Black America Web: "In a fresh sign of trouble for Hillary Rodham Clinton, one of the former first lady's congressional black supporters intends to vote for Barack Obama at the Democratic National Convention, and a second, more prominent lawmaker is openly discussing a possible switch. Rep. David Scott's defection and Rep. John Lewis' remarks highlight one of the challenges confronting Clinton in a campaign that pits a black man against a woman for a nomination that historically has been the exclusive property of white men. "You've got to represent the wishes of your constituency," Scott said in an interview Wednesday in the Capitol. "My proper position would be to vote the wishes of my constituents." The third-term lawmaker represents a district that gave more than 80 percent of its vote to Obama in the Feb. 5 Georgia primary."

Campaigns battle to motivate voters in Louisiana  2/9/2008 Reuters: "The primary elections have been called the most gripping in recent years but not in the Deep South state of Louisiana where parties struggled to motivate voters on Saturday. In Alexandria, a city in the center of the state, voting officials stood idle at several polling stations in black or racially mixed neighborhoods waiting for people to show up. Hundreds of people crowded a local gymnasium for a basketball game while the voting station in the lobby had seen only 35 voters by mid-morning."

Minority Voters Find New Voice in Primary Races  2/6/2008 PBS 

Clintons playing plantation politics  2/3/2008 Boston Herald: "It was Sen. Clinton who introduced racial tension into the election. After Obama told a crowd in South Carolina, around the time of Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday event, that King’s crusade was not a “false hope,” Clinton stepped in to point out that President Johnson (the white patron) got the Civil Rights Act passed. And then, of course, the senator’s surrogate, husband Bill, minimizing Obama’s landslide victory in South Carolina as a black thing, pointing out that Jesse Jackson also did well there in 1984 and 1988. When asked at the L.A. debate about immigration hurting blacks by depressing wages, Obama refused to take the bait. He insisted on addressing immigration as a national problem, of concern to all, and independent of the unique problems that are plaguing our inner cities. Why does the black candidate want to keep race out of the discussion and why has Clinton made such a point to keep it in? Dick Morris opened speculation about this, pointing out that Clinton would use her inevitable defeat in South Carolina to her advantage by provoking white backlash with not-so-subtle reminders of race politics and bloc black voting... Nothing could speak more clearly to the differences than Oprah Winfrey coming out for Obama and Clinton rolling out Bob Johnson, founder of Black Entertainment Television, to speak on her behalf. Winfrey is a mainstream success, with a daily audience of millions, mostly white, women. Johnson made his fortune through black sexploitation."

Obama Now Courts The Black Vote In Less Familiar Places  2/3/2008 Harford Courant 

Clinton reaches out to blacks in southern states  2/3/2008 Newsday: "Clinton has plenty of incentive to mend fences. Despite charges that she's tried to marginalize Barack Obama as a "black" candidate, friends say she still considers civil rights to be the driving force in her public life. Moreover, African-Americans make up near-majorities in southern Feb. 5 states. Her campaign believes she needs to keep her support level in the 25- to 30-percent range - as she did in Florida - to stay competitive in those states. And she will need to rebuild her onetime dominance among black Democrats if she gets to the general election. On Wednesday, Clinton spoke at North Little Rock High School, site of the 1956 desegregation battle. Later that day, after a friendly chat with Little Rock's "Belvis, the Black Elvis," she was touting her endorsement by Los Angeles Rep. Maxine Waters, a top African-American political leader in California."

Obama drawing state's black voters  2/3/2008 Boston Globe: "But something changed about two weeks ago, when Bill Clinton went on the attack, making what some took to be racially tinged statements about Senator Barack Obama's candidacy. "I was so angry - really, really angry," said Ferriabough-Bolling, whose husband, Bruce Bolling, was the first black president of the Boston City Council. "It was so unnecessary, and here's a guy who's a player. He knew what he was doing. It really teed me off.""

Hillary Clinton sets her sights on the black vote  2/1/2008 Telegraph, UK: "Mr Clinton's comment that Mr Obama's campaign was a "fairy tale" was "just plain offensive," said an Obama supporter at the party dinner. Shirley Franklin, the mayor of Atlanta, said "Bill Clinton was a great president, but he went off track" in the tone of his campaigning. The wounds from harsh words are deepest in the Deep South, where black people are little more than a generation away from hunger, share-cropping and lynch mobs. Arthur White, a Baptist pastor, said: "America took steps forward in the 1960s but has also taken steps backward.""


January,  2008

In his own words: Bill Clinton on Barack Obama and Jesse Jackson  1/31/2008 LA Times 

South Carolina & "Project Niggerization" by Mumia Abu-Jamal  1/31/2008 IndyBay: "The polls have closed and cooled off in South Caroline, and Illinois Senator Barack Obama has won the laurels of victory, sending his two primary challengers into a bitter defeat. But, time may teach us the lesson that this is a Pyrrhic victory, one which costs more than what was won. That's because the Clintons cleverly utilized and unleashed a series of attacks meant to make him stumble, and worse, to inject into his campaign something that he has been trying to studiously avoid since Day 1 of his campaign. That issue, of course, is Race. For by using these tactics, Clinton essentially ceded the state of South Carolina, trying to make this 'one Black candidate', rather than the Democratic candidate. As in chess, it is sometimes necessary to sacrifice a pawn if it enables one to win the game. And Bill Clinton is, above all, a master politician. He has beaten odds many times in his presidential career, and if he can successfully besmirch Obama, then he closes the door to him elsewhere. That's why the ex president made remarks about Obama's candidacy as little more than " a fairy tale", why Sen. Hillary Clinton (De,/ N. Y.) launched into the 'slumlord" reference, and why Clintonite (and New York Attorney-General) Andrew Cuomo disparagingly spoke of Obama as "shucking and jiving", code words all designed to ghettoize and indeed, niggerize Obama. "

This is the Opportunity for Which Our Forefathers Died - Now is the Time to Maximize the Black Vote  1/31/2008 Black Commentator: "The worst thing have we done, particularly in the last 40 years, is to sit out critical elections. A fifteen percent higher black voter turnout in 1968, 1988 and 2000 would have changed the outcome of national Presidential elections. The number of Blacks who didn’t vote in 2004 in five states made the difference in John Kerry beating George W. Bush. The first sign of surrendering hope in our communities is usually demonstrated by the surrendering our vote. Not this time. Every black person who has a vote needs to exercise that vote in this election."

PowerPac Machine Seeks to Mobilize Black Voters  1/30/2008 NNPA: "In one of the most historical political election seasons, organizers of African-American voters across the nation – still starkly divided between Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton – are now working to mobilize Black voters to vote in primaries, regardless of who they support. “We are blending the best parts of traditional civil rights get-out-to-vote operations with newer technology,” says Kirk Clay, organizer for PowerPAC, a non-profit social justice advocacy group, which is organizing get out to vote (GOTV) rallies and pit stops in states around the country. “When you’re dealing in the primary election, you’re looking for those pockets of places where African-Americans are more prone to turn out and vote in higher numbers,” Clay says."

Delegate math and the black vote  1/24/2008 Ben Smith: "Most of the delegates on Feb. 5 will be awarded by districts — congressional districts in most states. An effect of voting rights legislation is that many African-Americans live in districts that are overwhelmingly African-American. Under the Democrats' rules, a candidate who breaks the 15 percent threshold in a district will get at least one delegate. In a district that offers, as many do, three delegates, that means Obama could win 80 percent of the black vote to Clinton's 15 percent; and Clinton would then get 33 percent of the delegates."


November,  2006

Dashed Hopes for Black GOPers  11/6/2006 Alternet: "Black Republicans crash against a hard political fact of life. Though blacks grouse at and bash the Democrats they overwhelmingly vote for them, and even when they don’t they’re more likely to stay home rather than vote Republican. Their rock solid loyalty to the Democrats is not simply a case of blind and misguided loyalty. The entire Congressional Black Caucus are Democrats, and so are the leaders of the mainstream civil rights organizations. Despite the shots they take at the Democrats for “political plantationism,” the black Democrats and civil rights leaders are still highly respected. Most blacks still look to them to fight the tough battles for health care, greater funding for education and, jobs, voting rights protections, affirmative action, and against racial discrimination. Black Democrats still accurately capture the mood of fear and hostility the majority of blacks feel toward the Republicans."


October,  2006

Republican Ad Calls Black Women "Ho's"  10/19/2006 Huffington Post: "This ad was financed by J. Patrick Rooney, a white billionaire notorious for funding several misleading anti-Kerry ads that ran on urban radio stations in 2004. The money for Rooney's newest ad flowed through a little-known group called America's PAC, which was founded by Richard Nadler, a veteran Republican consultant who pushed Intelligent Design in Kansas public schools, declaring, "Darwin is bunk." Nadler has an apparently dim view of the minorities he hopes to court. In 2000, he produced an ad in 2000 for school vouchers in which a white parent declared that his child's public school "was a bit more diversity than he could handle." The Republican National Committee flatly denounced that ad as "racist." But about Rooney and Nadler's latest creation, which portrays black men as promiscuous misogynists and black women as submissive "ho's," the RNC is silent."


September,  2006

Black Republican group's ad accuses Dems of starting KKK, claims MLK was Republican  9/21/2006 Raw Story: includes audio clip from ad

Congressional leaders say black voters will turn out for Democrats  9/5/2006 McClatchy: "Congressional black leaders expressed confidence Tuesday that Democrats will win control of the House, partly because of a large turnout by angry African-American voters who feel abandoned by the Bush administration. Leaders of the Congressional Black Caucus held a news briefing as 20,000 black mayors, county commissioners, city council members, entrepreneurs and other influential African Americans began arriving in Washington for the political group's annual convention."


August,  2006

Black Vote A Key In Primaries  8/5/2006 Hartford Courant: "Actor Danny Glover will be in the state today to support New Haven Mayor John DeStefano, who also had recent visits from Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton. DeStefano's gubernatorial primary opponent Mayor Dan Malloy of Stamford countered with state Treasurer Denise Nappier, former New Haven Mayor John Daniels, New Haven state Rep. William Dyson and Hartford minister the Rev. Alvan Johnson on his black VIP list. Lamont has had Congresswoman Maxine Waters, Sharpton and Jackson in state talking him up. Lieberman trumped them all by bringing in Clinton - the first black president - for the Waterbury stop. Here's the thing for Connecticut's African American voters, who make up about 11 percent of the population: Though Dems have historically taken for granted the black vote, these primary candidates need it in a big way to win. The support this time should be leveraged for an agenda that includes more resources for better public schools, economic development - even promises of a diverse administrative staff. "In a real close primary, all the candidates realize that when you look around Connecticut and the urban centers, you cannot win without people of color," said consultant I. Charles Mathews, a former Hartford deputy mayor. There are four potential swing votes Tuesday - senior citizens; African Americans and Latinos; unaffiliated voters who become Democrats; and voters casting absentee ballots."


July,  2006

Black Leaders Forced Congress/Bush to Act on Voting Rights Law  7/30/2006 NNPA: "President George W. Bush is expected to sign into law Thursday an extension of the Voting Rights Act that overwhelmingly passed Congress after civil rights leaders and members of the Congressional Black Caucus mobilized African-Americans and their supporters and kept the issue before the public. “They made it the centerpiece. They get the credit for raising the issue and keeping it in the public marketplace,” says Thomas N. Todd, a civil rights lawyer who is the former president of the Chicago chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and Operation PUSH."

Black Leaders Forced Congress/Bush to Act on Voting Rights Law  7/27/2006 AP 


April,  2006

Election plan sparks protest  4/2/2006 AP: "Nearly 2,000 protesters, led by civil rights activists Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton rallied yesterday, saying the city's election plans will disenfranchise voters displaced by hurricane Katrina. The system of mail-in voting set up for the April 22 election for mayor and other positions in the largely black city will make it difficult for voters living elsewhere to cast a ballot, Jackson and other activists said."

1965 Voting Rights Provisions to Expire  4/1/2006 AP: "It also has generated rumors, mostly on the Internet, that black Americans will lose the right to vote en masse next year. The rumors have prompted officials at the U.S. Justice Department to post a notice on their Web site. "It's important for folks to know that the right to vote — even if those sections expire — will not expire," said Justice Department spokesman Eric W. Holland. The provisions — last renewed by Congress in 1982 for 25 years — cover a wide range of protections. They allow the government to approve new voting procedures in areas with histories of discrimination and send election monitors to make sure voters are allowed to cast ballots and their votes are counted. The provisions also send officials to register voters in counties where blacks are refused registration. "It's a myth that we stand to lose the right to vote, but we do stand to lose critical protections that have allowed us to participate fully in the political process," said Debo Adegbile, associate director of litigation at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. "We've seen consistently, even with the provisions in place, continuing efforts to weaken minority voices in the electoral process.""


March,  2006

American Blackout & The Outreach Program: Getting fired up for Election Day '06  3/31/2006 American Blackout: "American Blackout Election Outreach Campaign: To reclaim our elections and end voter disenfranchisement in ‘06 Next stop: Sarasota, FL – the heart of Katherine Harris’ district On April 7th and 8th we will be screening the film for Floridians at the Sarasota Film Festival, offering Ms. Harris’ constituents an opportunity to air their views well before the primary election. In fact, a rally has already planned for saturday April 8 at 4:30 at the theater. After Florida, we’ll continue on to Boston, Brooklyn, Columbus, OH, Seattle, and more…"


November,  2005

‘Bull Connor’s legacy of racism lives on’  11/2/2005 SF Bay View: The American Civil Liberties Union testified before Congress on Oct. 25 that lawmakers should renew a provision of the Voting Rights Act that requires jurisdictions with a history of discriminatory voting practices to submit changes to any voting law to the federal government for pre-approval. Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act will expire in 2007 unless Congress renews it. “Bull Connor may be dead, but his legacy of racism lives on,” said Laughlin McDonald, director of the ACLU Voting Rights Project, invoking the memory of the Birmingham, Alabama, police commissioner and staunch advocate of racial segregation. “There is abundant, recent evidence showing Section 5 is still needed to protect the equal right to vote of minorities in covered jurisdictions. Progress has been made, but this vital protection needs to remain in place.”


October,  2005

Storms Alter Louisiana Politics - Population Loss Likely to Reduce Influence of Black Voters  10/14/2005 Washington Post: "The unprecedented population shift is likely to have its first political impact in New Orleans, where Mayor C. Ray Nagin, who captured 44 percent of the black vote in 2002, and other municipal officials are facing a February election. The election will be one of the most important in the city's history, with the winners set to play a pivotal role in deciding how the city will be rebuilt. But with only a smattering of the city's 484,000 residents back home, it will also be an election in which voters will be difficult to find and residency hard to prove, leaving candidates unsure of how to campaign. "I'm in Jackson, Mississippi, at a hotel now -- does that make me a voter here?" asked Vincent Sylvain, a New Orleans voting rights activist. "We are citizens of Orleans Parish in the state of Louisiana and must maintain our right to vote here. That's the only way we can hold elected officials accountable.""


September,  2005

Exodus from Katrina-Hit States May Alter Political Mix in Louisiana, Texas  9/11/2005 Black America Web 


August,  2005

Voting Activists Challenge New Georgia Law  8/30/2005 BET: "Civil rights leaders are challenging a new Georgia law requiring voters to show identification before casting ballots – a law they said has been put in place to disenfranchise minority citizens."

Marchers convene to preserve Voting Rights Act  8/7/2005 AP: "More than 10,000 marchers stormed Martin Luther King Jr. Drive and trekked through the historic Atlanta University Center chanting, singing and clapping on Saturday in support of extending the 40-year-old Voting Rights Act. Organizers hope the "Keep the Vote Alive" march will pressure Congress and President Bush to extend key provisions of the landmark law, which expires in 2007. "Forty years later, we're still marching for the right to vote," said U.S. Rep. John Lewis, who participated in the civil rights struggles that helped secure passage of the law in 1965. "Don't give up, don't give in. Keep the faith, keep your eyes on the prize." Activists from across the country — including Dick Gregory and Harry Belafonte — joined Lewis, NAACP President Bruce Gordon and the Rev. Jesse Jackson, who heads the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, at Saturday's demonstration."

GOP Makes Appeal to Black Journalists  8/5/2005 Goddard's Political Wire 

Good Reason for Voting Rights Act Paranoia  8/4/2005 Pacific News Service 


July,  2005

Republican Party Is Backing Black Candidates  7/1/2005 NYT: "I'm not here to be the poster child for the Republican Party, to say they're being inclusive by running an African-American," said Mr. Swann, 54. "That's not why I'm here. I'm here to win." Still, to many prominent Republicans, Mr. Swann, a commentator for ABC Sports, is much more than a potentially strong contender for governor in 2006. He is, they hope, part of a new crop of prominent black candidates who could help the Republicans crack, if not break, Democratic domination among black voters in several important states."


May,  2005

Black Voters Reject Plan on Dallas Mayor  5/10/2005 AP: "Black voters, united in their disdain for Mayor Laura Miller's outspoken style and what they call a disregard for southern Dallas, shocked many by turning out in record numbers to help crush a proposal that would have dramatically increased her power."


April,  2005

Petition Drive Launched to Keep Voting Rights Act  4/4/2005 NNPA: "Representatives from several national organizations announced the goal of collecting 1 million signatures in a petition drive to encourage Congressional reauthorization of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. At a press conference convened in the nation's capital, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, president of the Rainbow Push Coalition, discussed the petition as one of several strategies to ensure the reauthorization of the Act. 'There will be three critical parts of the Voting Rights Act to expire in 2007 unless reauthorized by Congress,' said Jackson. 'We must be ever vigilant to protect our right to vote and not be swayed by media campaigns highlighting events that divert our attention [from] our mission.' Jackson was joined by, among others: Major L. Jemison, president, Progressive National Baptist Convention Inc.; Barbara R. Arnwine, executive director, Lawyer's Committee for Civil Rights Under Law; Laura W. Murphy, legislative director, American Civil Liberties Union; Stephanie Jones of the National Urban League; Richard Womack, AFL-CIO; T.J. Michaels, Service Employees International Union; Brenda Girton-Mitchell, National Council of Churches; Julie Fernandes, senior policy analyst, Leadership Conference on Civil Rights; Olga Vivies, vice president, National Organization for Women; Merwyn Scott, government relations, National Education Association; and Tanya M. Clay, deputy director, People For the American Way."


March,  2005

In Battle for Black Votes, GOP Holds Trump Cards  3/18/2005 Pacific News: Earl Ofari Hutchinson,

Baptist seeks to rock the UK Black vote  3/14/2005 Eklesia: "American civil rights activist and Baptist pastor Jesse Jackson’s visit to Britain is being described as “a major boost” by Operation Black Vote (OBV), a non-party political campaign supported by a broad coalition of mainly Black organisations."

Fighting Dirty for the Black Vote  3/8/2005 Front Page: "Donna Brazile is uneasy. She has noticed something highly threatening to her party, and she's sounding the alarm. In a column for Roll Call newspaper, Brazile, Al Gore's campaign manager, warns her fellow Democrats that Republicans are seeking to make inroads into the African-American vote. "Once they (black voters) start listening to Republicans, some may even like what they hear." Egad. Brazile notes that in "many key states, including Ohio, Florida and Michigan, the GOP increased its percentage of the black vote by making a modest investment of resources, reaching out consistently to ministers and polarizing the black community with divisive wedge issues such as same-sex marriage." "


February,  2005

GOP making push for black voters  2/17/2005 Radio Progreso 

Black evangelicals: Bush’s new trump card  2/9/2005 Final Call 

Bribes + Vouchers = Black Bush Supporters  2/3/2005 Black Commentator 

GOP hijacking more black pastors into its bible-based Taliban takeover  2/2/2005 Pam's House Blend 

To the Democratic Party from Democrat Shirley Chisholm (b.1924-d.2005)  2/2/2005 SF Bay View 

GOP Sees a Future in Black Churches  2/1/2005 LA Times: "I am frightened by what is happening," said Rep. Major R. Owens (news, bio, voting record), an 11-term Democratic congressman from New York who has been conferring with colleagues in the Congressional Black Caucus. "Our party is in grave danger. This Republican movement is going to expand exponentially unless we do something."


January,  2005

State GOP discusses 2006 strategy  1/30/2005 Tallahassee Democrat: ""The president got 13 percent of the black vote last year," said DeFoor. "If we could get that up to 20 percent, the Democrats are dead." Only 6.2 percent of black voters who chose one of the major parties were registered Republicans. "There's been a myth in the black community that the Republican Party is for the rich and the white," said Hunter, predicting that the GOP could attract 25 percent of the black vote next year. "We have not been getting our message out the way the Democrats are getting their message out." In Tallahassee, state Sen. Al Lawson said Bush scored well last November "because he appealed to religious groups and black voters in the churches, who are more conservative." "Now that they're out of power, the Democrats are starting to put more emphasis on black communities," said Lawson. "They used to think they could take us for granted.""

Can the GOP count on the black religious vote in '08?  1/29/2005 Pam's House Blend 

Black Evangelicals: Bush’s New Trump Card By EARL OFARI HUTCHINSON Commentary  1/28/2005 Berkeley Daily Planet 

Bush rewarded by black pastors' faith, and they, in turn, get their own 'reward'  1/18/2005 Pam's House Blend 

In the Shadow of Dr. King, counting the vote remains a civil rights issue  1/17/2005 Columbus Free Press, OH: see our voter fraud section


November,  2004

Black Pentecostals oppose GOP  11/27/2004 AP 

Blacks and Election 2004: What Happened and What's Next?  11/15/2004 Black News: "While a record number of Blacks voted in this election, lack of resources among the grassroots groups that traditionally mobilize Black voters severely hindered get out the vote efforts, Dr. Ronald Walters, director, African American Leadership Institute, University of Maryland told the group. "Going forward, we must have a well defined agenda addressing Black issues, and we must start now to raise the money to fund our own politics," he said. "With adequate resources, we could have done even more," said Pat Ford, co-chair, Unity '04. "We maximized our efforts by sharing resources, from UniverSoul Circus, to BET and the Tom Joyner Morning Show, and registered, protected and mobilized millions of voters." "

Commentary: Black voters still a strong constituency to be reckoned with  11/12/2004 Black America Web 

Voting at HBCUs Hit Record Levels  11/12/2004 Black College Wire: many problems…

Black support proves crucial to Bush win - Modest gains pay major dividends  11/7/2004 Times Picayune, LA: "In winning a second term, President Bush made great progress with Hispanic voters nationally and very little with black voters. But beneath that story lies an intriguing and surprising development: Bush's new success with Hispanics was concentrated in the overwhelmingly Republican South, especially in Texas, where it mattered little. And his far more limited success with black Christian conservatives, especially in Ohio, proved critical to his re-election."

Black Consensus Remains Intact  11/4/2004 Black Commentator: "After a “decent interval” of cynical niceties – a charade that began on Wednesday and will be catered by Kerry’s DLC – the GOP has every intention to bring to bear the full power of the Bush II state against mainstream Black America political structures."

Kerry loss prompts call for closer look at Black Democratic role  11/4/2004 Black America Web 

Fla. Rep.: Bush win is a gut-check for Black America  11/4/2004 Black America Web: "Hours after it was clear that President George W. Bush had reclaimed the White House, U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek said he was disappointed but determined to keep the black electorate engaged… The congressman said he was proud to see so many first-time voters and the record turnout by blacks at the polls. However, Meek said, Bush probably "will not invest" in a black community that worked so hard to remove him from office. Meek also said future social-service programs must be funded locally because Bush "really don't care about ya'll now." "

Black Voters Stand Tall  11/4/2004 Black Commentator: "Black America, with the help of our allies, proved that citizens can face down the racist bullies of the Republican Party, who believed that we could be intimidated by their brazen huffing and puffing, their threats of massive challenges, their disinformation campaigns – all based on the premise that Black folks are stupid and timid, and tired of fighting the powers-that-be. Instead of rolling over, we stood firm and in greater numbers than ever before. We are the spine – the moral and intellectual backbone – of America, the smartest and bravest citizens in the land. Our numbers and resolve intimidated the would-be intimidators. In the end, their plan to bum-rush Black polling places was reduced to a scattering of anecdotal incidents. Our lawyers – 16 thousand of them – faced down their lawyers. And Michael Moore marshaled 1,200 amateur and professional filmmakers to record the Republicans’ antics. Republicans apparently didn’t relish the idea of appearing in a reverse version of the TV show “Cops” starring themselves as the perpetrators caught in the act of violating federal law."


October,  2004

Racially-Based Suppression of the African-American Vote: The Role It May Play in the Upcoming Presidential Election  10/29/2004 FindLaw: "Suppression of the black vote is thus not only anti-democratic but deeply racist. It arises from a history of violent resistance to the equality of African-Americans in this country, and it thrives on the poverty and vulnerability that continue to plague the black community throughout this nation as a lasting legacy of slavery. It violates rights for which people died in the Civil War, and which are now enshrined in the U.S. Constitution. And it punishes the victims of our racist history for opposing candidates whose agendas may preclude progress in achieving a true and lasting equality."

Brother, Can You Spare a Dime? Despite the claims of some leftists, there’s a dire difference between Bush and Kerry for African-Americans.  10/28/2004 In These Times 

Commentary: Afro-Cubans could influence an anti-Bush vote in Fla.  10/28/2004 Black America Web: "According to ABCnews.com, scores of Cubans are working the phones from across the Florida Straits. They are urging their relatives in the battleground state of Florida to vote for Democratic challenger John Kerry for president. They are doing so not at the urging of their president, Fidel Castro, whose government has already called the U.S. elections a sham. What’s driving Cubans on the island to get into the elections fray isn’t propaganda, but pain – the pain of a Bush administration policy that, among other things, only allows their relatives in the United States to visit them once every three years… “My family in Miami never votes. They are not interested. I told them they had to get rid of Bush, and they all promised to go vote against him,” she told ABC. It’s also a safe bet that a chunk of those calls are coming from Afro-Cubans. They make up more than 60 percent of Cuba’s population. Unlike the white exiles whose entire families ultimately left Cuba in the 1960s after the revolution, the Afro-Cubans who have relatives in the United States are more likely to have kinfolk who arrived here more recently. Their families still span the Florida Straits."

Black students push for big Florida voter turnout  10/28/2004 Black America Web: "TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Chanting "Vote or Die" and "Six Days Left," Florida A&M University students – along with state and local leaders – rallied in front of the Leon County Courthouse here Wednesday as part of a student-led initiative aimed at encouraging more young voters to cast ballots in this year's presidential election."

Tom Joyner leads Miami voters to polls  10/28/2004 Black America Web: "In an effort to attract more early voters to the polls in Florida – a battleground state that was riddled with complaints of voting irregularities in 2000 – syndicated radio personality Tom Joyner is leading a “March to Vote” rally in Miami Beach Friday morning. Immediately following Joyner’s Southwest Airlines Sky Show at the Jackie Gleason Theater, Joyner and film stars Jennifer Holiday and LeVar Burton, and talk-show host Star Jones will join voters in a march to early voting booths in the Miami Beach City Hall."

It Can’t Get Any Closer in the Battleground States — Minority Turnout is Kerry Key  10/27/2004 Fabrizio, McLaughlin & Associates 

State’s African voters prepare for Election Day  10/27/2004 Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder 

'President' Gore rallies black Florida voters  10/25/2004 Toronto Star: ""If any of you felt frustrated or angry about what was done four years ago involving 27,000 votes here,'' the former U.S. vice-president said, "I want to encourage you — not to ignore those feelings — but don't turn them into angry acts or angry words. "But turn all of that energy and all of those feelings into a non-stop effort between now and 7 p.m. Nov. 2 in making certain everyone you know who is qualified to vote gets out to the polls and votes early starting today.''"

Kerry sounds clarion call to Florida's black voters  10/25/2004 St Petersburg Times: "At Abyssinia Missionary Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Senior Pastor Tom Diamond ntroduced Gore as "president-elect" and reminded his 500 congregants in the pews of the spoiled votes in Duval County four years ago. "The Republican Party threw out 27,000 of our votes," Diamond said. "It's as if they were spitting on the graves of our ancestors, by taking away the rights we have fought for and died for." ...But for all the anecdotal evidence of heavy African-American turnout, there are hints that Kerry might not be doing as strongly as he needs to be. At a John Edwards rally in St. Petersburg on Saturday, white people held "African-Americans for Kerry-Edwards" placards. A St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald poll released Sunday showed Bush more than doubling his support from black voters since 2000, with 19 percent support. That estimate is imprecise because the pollsters surveyed fewer than 100 likely black voters in Florida, and the Kerry-Edwards campaign says its internal polling never shows Bush in double digits. But it mirrors a national poll released last week showing 18 percent of African-Americans backing Bush. "I'm hoping that we will at least double what we did last time," said Dorsey Miller, a Broward County consultant leading Bush-Cheney's African-American outreach in Florida. "We haven't fared well on the national level giving all our support to one party, and people are beginning to think about that." Exit polls showed Bush winning fewer than one in 10 black votes in 2000, the worst Republican performance since Barry Goldwater in 1964. He could hardly do worse this time, but Rob Schroth, one of the pollsters who conducted the Times/Herald poll, questioned Bush's prospects of approaching 20 percent."

Gore and Kerry Unite in Search for Black Votes  10/25/2004 NYT: "Mr. Gore presented himself on Sunday as an example of the importance of voting. It was a pilgrimage that took him to six Baptist churches on the north side of Jacksonville, where nearly every person in every pew was African-American."

Vote For Kerry or Die Trying  10/23/2004 Black State 

Number of black Republican candidates up in South  10/22/2004 Black America Web 

CA$H: The currency of elections  10/21/2004 East Texas Review: "At the end of slavery, Booker T. Washington cautioned that without economic underpinnings the pursuit for voter empowerment would prove fruitless for blacks. But, the masses of blacks dismissed Washington then, and have ever since, sought their liberation through the voting process. ...Pocketbooks, not votes, determine political representation; and unless black voices are amplified with cash, basically, we remain simple cattle counts for the Establishment’s politicians."

Print this and take with you to the polls Nov. 2!  10/21/2004 BET: "Let’s say, for example, that you roll up on the polling place in your neighborhood and find out that your name is nowhere to be found on the vote list. Or that your name is on the list – but it’s a list of ex-felons, and you’re incorrectly denied your right to vote. How about if the electronic voting machines malfunction, or the representative you would like to vote for is not on the ballot? Even more dramatic, what if there’s a group of heavies blocking your way to the election booth?"

Tom Joyner Show Personalities to lead vote drives in 6 cities  10/21/2004 Black America Web: "Tom Joyner and his morning show crew will hit the road Friday to boost early voting in six key states where voters can cast ballots at selected locations in advance of the Nov. 2 presidential election. In Little Rock Ark., Nashville, Tenn, Raleigh, N.C., Las Vegas, Nev., and Orlando, Fla., the morning show crew will broadcast live along with affiliate radio stations airing the Tom Joyner Morning Show. Houston was added to the tour."

Poll: Black support for Bush doubled in four years  10/20/2004 Black America Web 

Buying The Black Vote  10/19/2004 Atlanta Inquirer 

Leave No Voter Behind  10/19/2004 MoveOn.org 

Poll: Bush doubles support among blacks  10/19/2004 Newsday 

Edwards Courts Black Voters in Florida  10/17/2004 AP: "Election offices across Florida will open Monday to give voters the option of casting their ballots ahead of the Nov. 2 election."

Florida: Bus Tour to Encourage Blacks to Vote  10/14/2004 AP: "Democrats say there has been an effort to discourage blacks from voting, and they've planned a four-day bus tour across Florida to encourage black voting and assure people that they're fighting to eliminate problems at the polls."

Kerry reaches out to black voters in Florida  10/11/2004 WTEV 

Deceit and disenfranchisement are not ordained by divine providence  10/7/2004 Courier-Journal, KY: "I was particularly struck by the reasoning of the Rev. Walter Humphrey. He was described as a prominent pastor of two "mostly black" churches, in Akron, Ohio, and Oakland, Calif. Humphrey admitted that he's somewhat troubled by how Bush captured the White House in 2000. Nevertheless, he said, "I don't view that as a stolen election, I see that as the providence of God." I can feel the tears of the martyred, Mississippi voting-rights warrior Fannie Lou Hamer raining down all the way from heaven. The youngest of 20 children, Hamer risked everything to exercise her right, as an American, to register and vote, saying, "The only thing they could do to me was kill me." And now we arrive at 2004, and a black preacher, of all people, suggests that voter disenfranchisement is God's will."

Jackson comes to Kerry's rescue  10/4/2004 USA Today 

‘Arrogant’ White Liberals Seek to Manage Black Voter Turnout  10/2/2004 NNPA 

Ensuring That Voting's Sanctity Wins Out  10/1/2004 Washington Post: "Of course, watching it, in the most up-close-and-personal way, is exactly what 10,735 volunteers -- one-quarter of whom already have trained and received their Election Day assignments -- plan to do. Volunteers include "people who are not activists in daily life . . . who really want to make sure this is a fair election," says Becky Bond of Working Assets, the long-distance provider that's helping the Election Protection coalition of civil rights groups organize the effort."

Can Jackson Still Help Kerry With Blacks?  10/1/2004 PNS: "Editor's Note: With a recent poll showing that Bush has gained some ground among blacks, John Kerry has called on Democratic standby Jessie Jackson to bump up black support. It may not work this time, writes PNS contributor Earl Ofari Hutchinson."


September,  2004

Florida Voter Information  9/29/2004 Voices for Working Families: "Florida State Director - Dorothy L. Townsend began her work with the Labor Movement nineteen years ago when she served as a shop steward with AFSCME 1363 which represents health care workers at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami Florida where she was employed as a Resuscitation Specialist in the Ryder Trauma Center. Currently she serves in the position of Executive Assistant to the President of TWU 291. Townsend served as the first Executive Director of South Florida Jobs with Justice. In 2000 Townsend was the lead organizer in South Florida for the historic Coalition of Conscience that forged the march on Tallahassee in protest of Gov. Jeb Bush's plan to abolish Affirmative Action is the Florida Collegiate System. Townsend presently serves as the Florida state convener for the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation. She is the proud mother of three and grandmother of Tre and lives in Miramar, Florida."

Mike Davis on the political sidelining of Blacks  9/26/2004 Tom Dispatch 

Calling All Black Conservatives  9/21/2004 Black Voice News: "Robinson is an environmental safety manager, bible studies teacher, Vice President of the Riverside NAACP and new Governor appointed Chief Deputy Director of Toxic Substances Control. He argues that the GOP has historically been better for Blacks and its time to come home. “We simply want to outline the GOP’s positions on God, country and family and ask people to see which party lines up with their own beliefs,” he says. Robinson says frustration and an unlikely voice led him to the Republican Party. “Here I was in Washington D.C. attending the Million Man March listening to spiritual leader Minister Louis Farrakhan preach about independent thought, self reliance and less government intervention. I scratched my head, did the math, and decided the Republican Party matched my beliefs."

Democrats can't win Ohio without blacks Getting out the vote is critical for Kerry  9/20/2004 Cleveland Plain Dealer: ""The African-American vote in Ohio is tremendously important," said Bill Lynch, deputy national campaign manager for the Kerry-John Edwards team. "If we don't get strong turnout, we don't win" the state. This will be particularly true if the race is close. "He is not going to win on the black vote alone; but the only way Kerry is going to win is if he has good black voter turnout," said David Bositis, senior political analyst at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies in Washington, D.C."

Crucial black voters wooed at rally - National, local figures speak at Sherman Park event  9/19/2004 Milwaukee Sentinel 

Black Republicans Remain an Anomaly – Even in Own Families  9/15/2004 NNPA 

Black Republicans seek voters, but face distrust  9/14/2004 Final Call 

Group's Ad Campaign Courts Black Voters  9/13/2004 AP 

GOP Compassion: “Big Pimpin”  9/8/2004 The Seattle Medium 

Black Republicans Seek Voters, But Face Distrust  9/7/2004 NNPA 

Eight Reasons why Blacks should Vote: Reason No. 1  9/7/2004 Black America Web 

Political and Civil Rights Leaders Seek End to Electoral College and a New Constitutional Amendment to Protect Voting Rights  9/7/2004 Rainbow PUSH 

Black Friends of Bush are Growing in Number  9/2/2004 Black America Web 


August,  2004

“Fahrenheit 9/11” resonates with many Blacks  8/8/2004 Final Call 

Can Obama and Black Democrats Deliver The Black Vote?  8/5/2004 Atlanta Daily World: "Before, during, and especially after his rousing Democratic National Convention keynote speech, Illinois legislator Barack Obama was hailed as the shining knight who will energize black voters. But it will take more than a stirring convention speech by the still relatively unknown and untested state legislator to do that. Despite their fear and terror of another Bush presidency, more blacks than ever express their disgust and disillusionment in polls with the Democrats and their ambivalence toward Democratic presidential contender John Kerry."

Democratic Platform offers little to Blacks  8/3/2004 Final Call 


July,  2004

Women Urged to Become Politically Active and Recruit  7/29/2004 Black America Web: "Black women can have a huge impact on the upcoming election. That was the message today at an event held at Boston’s Sheraton Hotel for the Future PAC, a black women’s political action committee formed in 2002 to identify and support black political candidates in both local and national elections."

Tom Joyner Launches Toll-Free Voter Registration Hotline  7/28/2004 REACH Media: "In an effort to significantly boost the number of registered African-American votes, nationally syndicated radio personality Tom Joyner has launched a toll-free voter registration hotline -- 1-866-316-VOTE (8683). Simplifying the registration process and motivating African-American voters to the polls makes this registration hotline a necessity."

Are Black issues being abandoned on the John Kerry bandwagon?  7/26/2004 Final Call 

Boxing Reform Scuttled by Don King  7/23/2004 International Brotherhood of Prizefighters: "Professional boxing looks like it's on the verge of being regulated by the federal government, but despite a deal being cut by opposing Senators John McCain and Harry Reid, promoter Don King has ladled out plenty of money to make sure that President Bush never signs the historic bill. King also cut a deal with Republicans to raise money for the party and even recorded a campaign commercial, that's done under the guise of a boxing match with King doing the blow-by-blow, lambasting Bush's Democratic opponent John Kerry."

Black Americans Discovered by Democratic Party - Kerry Mentions the ‘D’ Word - by Greg Palast, Guest Commentator  7/22/2004 Black Commentator: "Here's how Senator Kerry got the message: Two weeks ago, when I was in Chicago, Jesse Jackson asked me to join him for breakfast at the Marriott Hotel. To my surprise, he'd also invited Senator John Edwards. Jackson had made copies of my editorial for the San Francisco Chronicle on the missing one million votes ... and wouldn't let the wannabe Veep touch his bagel until he'd read every word. Just when Edwards thought he could have a sip of coffee, Jackson required him to watch the segment of our BBC television special, "Bush Family Fortunes," with the latest analysis on the non-count of Black votes in Florida. In the 2000 race, 95,000 African-American votes were dumped in the Florida swamps, marked as spoiled. Edwards, succumbing to hunger, caffeine deprivation and Reverend Jackson's intense interrogation, caved in and promised to take the message of the missing Black votes to the white side of his party."

Republicans Sample Black Culture for Votes  7/16/2004 Black America Web: "Republicans have taken the phrase “Jesus is my Homeboy,” a step further. An Internet radio station based in Florida is distributing T-shirts that read “Bush is my Homie.” The Bush shirts, which have been available through InstantFM for about two weeks, are geared toward hip Republicans, Brian Voss, program director at the station, told BlackAmericaWeb.com."

Black Greek-letter Organizations Unify and Collaborate for a Nationwide Voter Mobilization Campaign  7/12/2004 Dogon Village: "The November 2004 General Election will be one of the most crucial elections in the history of our democracy. Much is at stake for our community and it is imperative that every African American of legal voting age register and vote." “We are reaching out to at least 1.5 million members of black Greek organizations, challenging them to take responsibility for registering at least one eligible voter for the upcoming election,” said Helen J. Owens, President, Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority and convener of the presidents. “Furthermore, if we have members who are not registered, we want them to set an example by registering and taking someone with them when they do. Our goal is to add a minimum of 1.5 million new registered voters. This may not seem like a significant number in a country as large as the United States. However, one need only reflect on the last Presidential election to realize the importance of each and every vote,” said Owens."

BLACK ACTIVISTS START EARLY WITH VOTER EMPOWERMENT BUS TOUR IN SOUTH CAROLINA  7/12/2004 Dogon Village: "Help! exclaimed civil rights leader Rev. Joseph E Lowery during a voter empowerment town hall meeting held this past weekend at Williams Chapel Church in Orangeburg, SC. The audience of over 150 people roared as Lowery went on, “This is the first opportunity since the election fiasco in 2000 for Black folks to send a message. We came here to ask South Carolina citizens to get out and vote on Tuesday. Help, Help! Let’s make history on Feb 3,” he bellowed."

Mfume sounds a call for voters  7/12/2004 Philadelphia Inquirer: "Driving home his organization's message of the critical importance of this year's presidential election, NAACP president and CEO Kweisi Mfume said today the group was pushing to register an unprecedented number of new voters. "If people think that the turnout of new voters was high in the year 2000, they haven't seen anything yet," Mfume told a gathering about 7,000 cheering members at during a plenary session at the Convention Center."

Northern Virginia Organizations Push Voter Empowerment  7/12/2004 Dogon Village: "Five days before the Virginia Democratic Presidential Primary, several Northern Virginia organizations have joined to launch a voter empowerment campaign for the 2004 presidential elections. Headed by the Alexandria NAACP, the coalition is comprised of 11 chapters of area African-American organizations, each with a strong history of advocacy. Throughout the year, each chapter has committed to prepare our community for the elections by engaging in voter education or registration activities."

Kerry can’t win without Black vote  7/8/2004 Insight News: "Democratic National Committee Chairman, speaking to the annual convention of the National Newspapers Publishers Association (NNPA) here, acknowledged that John Kerry cannot be elected president without the Black vote and dismissed frequent criticism that his party takes African Americans for granted. “I know we cannot win without the African American vote. I don’t ever take any vote for granted anywhere in this country,” Terry McAuliffe, chairman of the DNC, told the publishers here. “I look forward to working with all of you and your publications to make sure we’re getting the message out because I know there’s not a more effective avenue through which to get our message to the African- American community than through your publications.”"

Kerry connects with audience at AME Church meeting in Indy  7/7/2004 Indianapolis Star 

Kerry’s Choice of Edwards Enhances Blacks’ Role  7/7/2004 Black America Web: "Walters, a University of Maryland Political Science professor, said Edwards’ selection is the strongest evidence to date that the Kerry campaign will have a Southern strategy: “This means that the solid South, where Bush won every state in 2000, will be contested this time. “This will make [President] Bush take a second look at the black vote. It means that the Bush campaign will either put up a stronger fight for the black vote or they will make a stronger effort to get out their base, Southern religious conservatives.” Donna Brazile, the former campaign manager for Vice-President Al Gore in the 2000 election, called Edwards an exciting choice. “Senator Edwards is one who has spent his entire life championing issues for poor people,” she said. “He understands the plight of people in this country, whether they are African-American or white."

NAACP Head says Bush Treats Blacks Like Prostitutes  7/6/2004 NNPA 

The Black Slate: More Black Operatives  7/6/2004 Africana.com: "A couple of years ago, a friend of mine worked on a high-profile African American senatorial campaign, helping to co-ordinate press events and other activities for the candidate. Even though the candidate was African American, my friend found that not only had he not been scheduled to do press junkets for Tom Joyner or Russ Parr, there were requests for interviews by magazines like Black Enterprise that had also fallen by the wayside. When my girl tried to get interviews with the black media, white campaign staffers resisted. Her white colleagues did not understand why it would be important for the candidate to talk on black media. They felt it a waste of time and effort, largely because they worked on the assumption that supporters of Tom Joyner (or readers of Black Enterprise) don't vote."

Does Graham have his eye on Oval Office?  7/6/2004 Sun News, SC: "In his appearance at the Iowa GOP convention, Graham had a message for Republicans, warning that if they don't change their way of thinking, they may not be a major party much longer. "We've got to be a party of big ideas, but we also have got to adapt," he says. "If we do not appeal to black voters or Hispanics over the next decade, we will not be a national party." The GOP cannot continue to lose 90 percent of the black vote and 65 percent of the Hispanic vote without major erosion, he says."


June,  2004

Fla. Voting: Apathy is not the Way to Fight the Power  6/24/2004 Black America Web: "The excuses range from silly to pathetic. One woman told a worker that she didn’t need a voter registration card because Jesus was the authority in her life. Another said she didn’t want to vote because she’d have to know about politics. And others have indicated that they won’t register to vote because they don’t want to be picked for jury duty. Motor vehicle records, not voter lists, are used to select potential jurors. "It's like pulling teeth," Lavinia Frank, 28, field director of FCAN Foundation, told the St. Petersburg Times. “A lot of people in Pinellas and Hillsborough counties have given up a long time ago. They don't want to think. They don't want to get involved." "

CBC Devises New Strategy to Battle Bush and Nader  6/24/2004 Black America Web: "One day after the contentious meeting in which the Congressional Black Caucus failed to convince presidential candidate Ralph Nader to scrap his bid for the White House, the group is focusing on another strategy to ensure a win by presumptive Democratic nominee John Kerry. With Nader refusing to drop out of the race, the CBC plans to implement a two-fold strategy: to educate people that a vote for Nader is a vote for George Bush, and to do a better job of voter registration and mobilization, said CBC chairman Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.).“It’s critical to get Bush out of the White House because of his repressive leadership,” Cummings told BlackAmericaWeb.com."

Black Republicans Question Party’s Commitment  6/15/2004 NNPA: "As the Republican Party tries to gain a larger share of the Black vote in the 2004 presidential election, skepticism over whether that will happen comes from a surprising source – Black Republicans. “I’m not sure they’re going to even try,” says Arthur Fletcher, Jr., former assistant secretary of labor in the Nixon administration. “Nixon won the White House without a Black vote two times, Reagan won the White House without a Black vote two times. Bush won the White House without a Black vote one time. Bush junior has won it without a Black vote. When they look at their dollars and realize that the Hispanics are chomping at the bits to get aboard, I’m not sure they’re going to make a bona fide effort to attract Blacks.” "


May,  2004

Chasing the Latino Vote  5/27/2004 Alternet 

Illegal Immigration and Black America  5/26/2004 ChronWatch: "A goblin is haunting Barack Obama's election campaign to become the Democratic senator from Illinois. That goblin is in the shape of illegal immigration and its impact on Black Americans. The Democrats need the votes of both Latinos and Blacks to win in November, yet this victory may be brought at the expense of Black Americans. Barack Obama cannot talk about this, because to do so he will have to alienate one group or another."


April,  2004

Kerry's reaching out to African-Americans  4/15/2004 Newsday: "Pandering in politics can be like water to fish. On the same day that Kerry met with us, a friend called my attention to the "Compassion" page at the Web site for President George W. Bush's re-election campaign. Almost all of the pictures on the page's "photo album" showed Bush having a happy time with African-Americans."

Black Women May Hold Vote Key to Election  4/14/2004 NNPA: "In the 1992 and 1996 elections, exit polls showed that White women's votes were relatively close to White men's votes for President Bill Clinton: 34 percent of White men and 44 percent of White women in 1992 and 31 percent of White men and 42 percent of White women in 1996. Black women, on the other hand, voted overwhelmingly for Clinton. In 1992, he received 86 percent of their vote, and in 1996, 89 percent of them voted for him, according to the Joint Center. When Black women's votes were averaged with White women's, the ''women's vote'' gave Clinton a winning majority of 54 percent in 1992 and 51 percent in 1996."

NAACP goes door-to-door to get voters registered  4/11/2004 Ann Arbor News 

Commentary: Myth, Reality of Declining Voter Turnout  4/9/2004 Black America Web 

What Will Drive Black Voters to Polls?  4/7/2004 Black Enterprise 

Religious right plays the race card - Conservatives courting African Americans for battle against same-sex marriage  4/7/2004 Working for Change 

Florida vote criticised  4/5/2004 BBC: published 6/5/01 - "Blacks in Florida were nearly 10 times as likely as whites to have their ballots rejected in the American presidential election last year, a report by the US Commission on Civil Rights has found."


March,  2004

Georgia Could Send Five Blacks to Congress  3/23/2004 NNPA: "Georgia, the state that ranks 10th in total population, may send five African-Americans to Congress, placing it ahead of California and Texas, the two largest states in the union. Georgia Democrats redrew boundaries for congressional districts last year, a move that positions Blacks to win two additional seats in the U.S. House to produce a total of five."

Kerry and Bush Target Black Voters  3/17/2004 SF Sun: "John Kerry and George Bush are going all out for the Black vote in November. The Black voter is key in many big states with many electoral college votes _ Michigan, New York, Illinois, California, Florida, Georgia and Ohio. Scott Stanzel, a spokesman for the Bush campaign, said the president and Black Republicans will be pointing to a number of policies to draw more African-American voters such as efforts to boost the rate of Black home ownership, increasing trade with Africa, and targeting schools in high-poverty areas with special grants. “Every vote is a priority in this election, so we will be reaching out to all voters,” he said. The White House will also be looking for support from Black Republicans. In Oakland, for example, Conway Jones, Jr., who is Black, said he is working to re-elect the president. Oakland NAACP President Shannon Reeves is also a high profile Repubican and spokesman for the GOP in California. Black Republicans also believe that the recall of Gov. Davis in California and the election of Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger will also help bring more support to the polls for Bush, including Blacks who voted for the Hollywood actor. Nationwide, younger Black voters are less likely to identify themselves as Democrats, according to national polls and Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie."

Pandering to race  3/9/2004 Black America Today 

GOP Faces Steep Climb to Gain Black Votes for Bush  3/8/2004 Black America Web 

Black Voters Align With Democrats Against Bush  3/1/2004 Washington Post: "With little prodding from the two major candidates, black voters have joined the Democratic Party's quest to take back the White House this year. Turnout among black voters in states that have held primaries is 10 to 20 percent higher than it was in 1992, the last time the party had a real contest for the nomination, according to the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, a Washington-based liberal think tank."


February,  2004

BLACK ACTIVISTS START EARLY WITH VOTER EMPOWERMENT BUS TOUR IN SOUTH CAROLINA  2/29/2004 Dogon Village 

Unfounded Loyalty - An in-depth look into the love affair between blacks and the Democrats.  2/29/2004 Wayne Perryman: "Our nation's top historians reveal that the Democratic Party gave us the Ku Klux Klan, Black Codes, Jim Crow Laws and other repressive legislation which resulted in the multitude of murders, lynchings, mutilations, and intimidations (of thousands of black and white Republicans). On the issue of slavery: historians say the Democrats gave their lives to expand it, the Republicans gave their lives to ban it."

Black vote can make history in mayoral race  2/21/2004 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel 

Democrats woo black Georgians  2/18/2004 Atlanta Journal-Constitution 

It's Time to Call for New Black Leadership - We Need You - by Thulani Davis  2/18/2004 Village Voice: "But should Kerry hang in there, the question will remain who he will deal with, having gotten this far without being forced to build support in black communities. Rather than Sharpton, the charismatic black member of Congress from Memphis, Harold Ford Jr., Kerry's national co-chair, may be the one who determines how much time black voters' issues will get. Regardless of the outcome over the next few months, the determination of what is on the Democratic Party agenda will be a game played strictly at the top of the food chain."

Black Vote Key to Kerry's Charge  2/17/2004 Insight: "But their momentum faltered badly in Virginia and Tennessee as Kerry scored double-digit victories in each state, leading Clark, who finished third in each race, to withdraw from the campaign and endorse Kerry. Kerry not only carried the white vote in both states, but also became the first Northerner to carry the black vote against a Southern Democrat since George McGovern defeated George Wallace in 1972. In being the first Yankee since JFK to successfully build a biracial coalition in the South, Kerry became the presumptive Democratic nominee for 2004 and increased the possibility that he'll be able to compete in Dixie with President Bush come November… If Edwards cannot sweep the black vote, then Kerry's support from Northern liberals will all but guarantee him the nomination. But if Edwards can combine overwhelming black support -- about 30 percent of the delegates -- with a bloc vote from white Southerners (about 15 percent), he'll still have a chance at an upset. Given Kerry's current strong momentum, this may be Edwards' last chance to win. And if Kerry continues his Missouri, Tennessee and Virginia success with blacks, he'll be extremely formidable."

Black Greek-letter Organizations Unify and Collaborate for a Nationwide Voter Mobilization Campaign  2/15/2004 Dogon Village: "Nine African-American Greek organizations which comprise the National Pan-Hellenic Council, today announced a unified campaign in partnership with the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation's "Unity 04 Empowerment Campaign” to increase the number of registered voters nationwide and then to mobilize voter turnout on Election Day."

Blacks Beware: Election Maelstrom may be Brewing  2/11/2004 Black America Web: "But like "No Child Left Behind," the "Help America Vote" Act is fast shaping up to be one of those things that Bush found easier to sign on paper than to sign off on the money and the implementation to make it real. After signing the act, Bush dragged his feet for another year on doing what needed to be done to ensure that the stench of Election 2000 doesn’t permeate Election 2004. He got around to nominating his two members to the four-person Election Assistance Commission in 2003. Interestingly enough, it is this commission that is responsible for administering the act. Yet it has only been given $2 million instead of the $10 million promised to it -- with the White House proffering a slim reed of an excuse that the commission doesn’t need the money because it has riches tucked away from previous years."

Black Vote Dissed During Michigan Caucus  2/9/2004 BET: "Local Black leaders and frustrated voters in Detroit are demanding the resignation of the head of the Michigan Democratic Party, after problems at polling sites left many feeling their vote was “disenfranchised.” "

Blacks' ballots are colorblind  2/8/2004 Atlanta Journal-Constitution 

Black Voter Turnout  2/5/2004 ABC 

Blacks seek '04 version of Clinton  2/3/2004 Knight Ridder 

BET.com: Hip hop activism - Russell Simmons, others hope to inspire young people to vote  2/3/2004 MSNBC: "If not urgency, then certainly excitement is a factor when it comes to Russell Simmons and his HSAN group. They have registered over 20,000 people to vote so far. Making voting "cool" is exactly what Simmons hopes will inspire hip-hoppers to sway the outcome of the '04 presidential election. The remaining HSAN summits will take place between now and November, with the goal of registering 2 million voters. Despite all the registering, some statistics show that less than 50 percent of all Americans actually vote. That number plunges even lower when you are talking about 18- to 34-year-olds, according to political activist/radio personality/ hip-hop expert Davey D. But, he feels that dip is due to the fact that politicians don't value the hip-hop generation or the issues that affect it."

Activists Urge Blacks to Vote  2/3/2004 Newsday 

African-American voters and the 2004 elections - 13 million blacks voted in 2000; what's the prospect for this year?  2/2/2004 MSNBC 


January,  2004

Republicans 'Fail' Blacks  1/29/2004 NNPA: "According to the NAACP’s mid-term “Federal Legislative Report Card” for the 108th Congress, made public this week, 228 Republicans in the 435-member U.S. House of Representatives and all 52 in the Senate earned Fs. Only one Republican, Rep. Mary S. Leach of Iowa, got as high as a D, voting in support of Black causes 65 percent of the time. By contrast, no Democrat received a grade as low as an F on the Civil Rights Report Card. The lowest grade for a Democrat were the Ds earned by Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska, with 63 percent, Robert E. Cramer of Alabama and Bill Lipinski of Illinois, both with 65 percent. Among Democrats in both houses, there were 179 As, 42 Bs, 16 Cs and 3 Ds."

Black vote seen as crucial in SC Dem Feb. 3rd primary  1/25/2004 WIS10 

ROLAND S. MARTIN: Minorities voters are screwed by the primaries  1/23/2004 Black America Today: "Iowa is 92.6 percent white, and New Hampshire is at 95.1 percent, according to the 2000 U.S. Census. Here is the minority breakdown in Iowa: African Americans ­ 2.1 percent; Hispanics ­ 2.8 percent; and Asians ­ 1.3 percent. In New Hamphire: African Americans - .7 percent; Hispanics ­ 1.7 percent; Asians ­ 1.3 percent. What this says is that a large voting bloc is absolutely and completely absent from determining who will represent them at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave."

African-American voter profile not carved in stone, locals say  1/21/2004 Advocate Messenger 

Black Republicans Coming Home?  1/21/2004 Challenge Group: "Among the big meetings that are being held in Washington to signal the opening of the new Congress is one planned for mid-January by Black conservatives. The meeting will be led by Conservative Washington, D.C., media personality Armstrong Williams, who was at the dinner for retiring Sen. Strom Thurmond, where Trent Lott made his comments in apparent support of Thurmond’s 1948 segregationist presidential campaign."

FEEL THE POWER! Over 100 of the Most Influential Black Organizations Join Forces for Voter Empowerment Campaign  1/20/2004 Dogon Village: "A coalition of political, business, and civic organizations launched the Unity '04 Civic Engagement and Voter Empowerment Campaign (Unity ’04), during a press conference at the National Press Club in Washington, DC this week. The coalition also released the results of an issues poll measuring opinions about the social and economic status of Black Americans over the past three years. A non-partisan initiative harnessing the power of over 100 influential Black organizations, Unity ’04 is determined to increase Black voter turnout and make sure each vote is counted on Election Day. Participating organizations in the campaign represent a membership base of close to 15 million."

The Path of Righteousness - African-American voters are surprisingly conservative—and very religious  1/20/2004 Slate 

Black America's PAC  1/16/2004 Disinfopedia: "Black America’s Political Action Committee (BAMPAC) supports conservative policies and African-American candidates. Its name misleadingly suggests that it represents the point of view of African-Americans, but in fact opinion polls and voting patterns show that the vast majority of African-Americans disagree with BAMPAC's political positions. BAMPAC claims to be nonpartisan, but its IRS tax statement explicitly states that its mission is to elect Republicans."

Analysis: Bush Economy Continues to Harm African-Americans Disproportionately  1/15/2004 Republicons: "Rosy numbers are being foisted upon the electorate in advance of the 2004 presidential election season; however, for African-Americans the economic realities remains dire. Nearly 800,000 fewer African-Americans were employed in December 2003 than were in December 2000 according to a recent analysis of US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data and Census Bureau stats demonstrate an increase in racial income disparities."

South Carolina groups seek to get out black vote  1/12/2004 ABC 

S.C. groups seek to get out black vote  1/12/2004 AP: "Groups including the state branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the South Carolina Voter Education Project are sponsoring activities around the state to encourage blacks to vote in the Feb. 3 Democratic presidential primary."

Why Courting the Black Vote Won’t Work  1/8/2004 Michigan News: "But the most important advantage Republicans have over Democrats is that Republicans can win elections without the black vote; Democrats can’t. In the meantime, Republicans should continue to do what they do best: defending the country, supporting policies that foster economic growth, fighting for the sanctity of the family, the unborn and the dignity of the individual. Once blacks are fed up with liberal lies, fear, resentment and mistrust (and being passed over for leadership positions), perhaps they’ll return to the party that set them free. And once they get a taste of real freedom, Democrats will be in trouble. Deep trouble."

Black, Latino leaders hit voter remap bias  1/8/2004 PWW: "A three-judge panel Jan. 6 upheld a districting plan conceived by House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) to add eight or more Republicans to the Texas congressional delegation. But Black and Latino leaders and Democratic Congress members from Texas vowed to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, charging that the scheme is a racist attack on the 1965 Voting Rights Act. Veteran Democratic Rep. Martin Frost, who represents a multiracial district that includes parts of Dallas, said, “By judicial fiat, a three-judge federal panel has effectively repealed the Voting Rights Act and turned back the clock on nearly 40 years of progress for minority voters.” "

Black Vote Up For Grabs  1/6/2004 Rush Limbaugh 

Black Votes -- No GOP Fantasy  1/4/2004 Washington Post: "Consider these facts: There has been a measurable rightward shift in the black electorate. In 2002 the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, a liberal think tank, asked black respondents in its national survey to identify themselves as either Democrats, independents or Republicans. Although 63 percent claimed to be Democrats, the number was down from 74 percent in 2000. The decrease occurred in nearly every age group, including among respondents 65 and older (where the drop was from 82 percent to 75 percent). There was a significant increase in those calling themselves independents, especially between the ages of 26 and 35. Respondents identifying themselves as Republicans also increased: Between ages 26 and 35, the number tripled, going from 5 percent in 2000 to 15 percent in 2002."

Dean Must Still Compete For Black Vote  1/2/2004 NNPA: "And because of Gore's popularity among African Americans - he won a larger percentage of the Black vote than Bill Clinton - political observers are eager to see if that popularity can be transferred to Dean. "This gives Howard Dean some inroads into the Black community because Al Gore, like Bill Clinton, was very well respected, but Howard Dean ultimately has to reach out to African Americans," says Brazile, the only African American to manage the campaign of a non-Black presidential candidate."