Will Kerry Nod Make Obama More Viable For Southern Black Voters?

[DrFunkenstein]

There has been much discussion of whether or not African-Americans are going to turn out for Obama in the South. After winning in bright-white Iowa, it seems that alot of Southerners began to take a second look at the skinny kid with the funny name.

Clinton received alot of early support because of her husband, but the tide seems to be turning away from her despite the by-her-fingernails win in her firewall state.

Do you think that an endorsement by the former Democratic nominee will bolster Obama in the mind's of voters in South Carolina and other Southern states? Does it lend more credibility to his once unlikely bid to lead the nation?

[Adelante]

1. I don't know

But Kerry got almost 100% of the black vote, so I imagine he might have influence that added to Obama's own weight could temper the Clintons' influence to some extent. Just a guess.

[xultar]

2. Nope.

[sandnsea]

3. To southern black leaders it will

And maybe they'll stop telling their voters and parishioners to quit having false hopes about there being a black president. That will make the difference.

[ellacott]

6. Good point

[terisan]

4. No but it helps in the northeast.

[patrice]

5. Same guy who walked away from election fraud in Ohio '04?

I need to hear Obama's explanation for why we shouldn't care about that.

[stillcool]

8. That is so 2004...

tabulating votes does not matter anymore....people who care about counting votes are 'sore losers', they are crying 'sour grapes', they are "conspiracy theorists", and "Election Fraud Wacko's". We've turned the page from 2004...maybe when the general election comes around it will matter...but I wouldn't mention John Kerry anymore...you don't want to draw attention to 'counting votes'.

[patrice]

9. The whole thing is an f-ing shell game.

I'm trying to be positive for my candidate, but it's very hard. I also happen to know some extremely intelligent young people who make a good case for: nothings going to change until it HAS to and long as we play the game, it doesn't have to change.

I'm thinking my responsibilities are to buy time this go-round; I hope that isn't a cop out on my part!!

[yardwork]

7. No. Kerry doesn't have a lot of pull in the south, among blacks or whites.

Kerry's endorsement won't make much of a difference in the south. He's perceived as a Massachusetts liberal.

Each of the three leading Democratic candidates has both pluses and minuses in the south.

Obama, from Illinois, is not perceived as a "Yankee liberal," so that's good for him. His generally conservative, bi-partisan message should play very well in the south. Being black will help him some, but not as much as folks might think. Black southerners will not necessarily vote for the black candidate just because he's black.

Clinton has the extreme popularity of her husband among the black community buoying her in the south. However, a lot of southern whites hate-hate-hate both Clintons with an almost indescribable passion. If Obama takes the black vote away from Hillary in the south, she's in big trouble.

Edwards is from South Carolina and it is fair to say that if he can't win the south, he can't win the nation. Unfortunately, the media has done its work well, and a lot of southerners just don't like Edwards. Personally, I think that his platform is the best, and his anti-corporate talk *should* resonate in a region of the country that has suffered so much from outsourcing of labor and loss of industry to cheap labor markets.

I predict that Obama will do very well in the southern states, but not because he's black. I think that his carefully crafted bipartisan message is what will resonate in this conservative region.