On the brink of nominating an African-American, is the Democratic Party hesitating about race?

[DeepModem Mom]

NYT: For Obama, a Struggle to Win Over Key Blocs
By ADAM NAGOURNEY
Published: April 24, 2008


(Jae C. Hong/AP)
Barack Obama on his campaign plane Wednesday. Voting patterns have suggested racial polarization, but Mr. Obama points to older voters’ loyalty to Hillary Rodham Clinton as a concern.

It is the question that has hung over Senator Barack Obama’s presidential campaign, and it loomed large on Tuesday night after his loss to Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton in Pennsylvania: Why has he been unable to win over enough working-class and white voters to wrap up the Democratic nomination? Lurking behind that question is another: Is the Democratic Party hesitating about race as it moves to the brink of nominating an African-American to be president?...

(J)ust when it seemed that the Democratic Party was close to anointing Mr. Obama as its nominee, he lost yet again in a big general election state, dragged down by his weakness among blue-collar voters, older voters and white voters. The composition of Mrs. Clinton’s support — or, looked at another way, the makeup of voters who have proved reluctant to embrace Mr. Obama — has Democrats wondering, if not worrying, about what role race may be playing....

While arguably critical to determining the viability of Mr. Obama’s candidacy, the role of race is difficult to disentangle from the other strands of the political debate surrounding him, encompassing topics like values, elitism, ideology and experience....It is also hard to discount that Mr. Obama has arrived at this place in his candidacy after winning big victories in very white states. The crowds at his rallies are as white as any at a Clinton rally, and many analysts in both parties believe that racial attitudes in this country are changing at a breakneck pace, particularly among younger voters, making it risky to impose models from even four years ago on this unusual election.

Complicating things even further are the high-profile episodes that have rattled his campaign....

***

For Mr. Obama, race presents two potential problems: Voters opposing him simply because he is black, and Democrats who will not support him because they do not think a black man can win a general election.

The results in Pennsylvania suggest that problems exist. A poll of Democratic voters conducted by Edison/Mitofsky for the television networks and The Associated Press found that Mrs. Clinton drew 63 percent of the white vote while Mr. Obama drew 90 percent of the black vote, mirroring a pattern in many other states. More strikingly, the poll found that 18 percent of Democrats said that race mattered to them in this contest — and just 63 percent of those voters said they would support Mr. Obama in a general election....

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/24/us/politics/24obama.html

[burythehatchet]

1. America loves black people (we just never had a chance to have any over for dinner)

[DeepModem Mom]

4. I know. It's heartbreaking that this article is written...

but the subject, I'm afraid, is part of this campaign. I'm heartened, and I think it's true, that attitudes are changing, profoundly, on a generational basis.

There's not, I don't think, any way of knowing exactly how much race is at play at this point.

[burythehatchet]

5. Unfortunately it can only be worse than we know because people would

most likely not acknowledge their racist tendencies. But as I said, we will get whom we deserve.

[Vincardog]

2. The race problem in PA is directly related to DREs.

[Indydem]

3. I'm unfamiliar with the accronym?? n/t

[Vincardog]

6. Have you heard of "Touch screen"? How about Back Box Vote stealing machines?

[Indydem]

7. I've heard of both...

If you said Seqoia or Diebold, I'd know what you mean, but I still don't know what DRE means...

[Vincardog]

8. direct-recording electronic (DRE) voting systems