Black Southern Voters, Poised to Play a Historic Role

[babylonsister]

Thank you sincerely!

Black Southern Voters, Poised to Play a Historic Role

JULY 18, 2014

Nate Cohn


Southern black voters don’t usually play a decisive role in national elections. They were systematically disenfranchised for 100 years after the end of the Civil War. Since the days of Jim Crow, a fairly unified white Southern vote has often determined the outcome of elections.

This November could be different. Nearly five decades after the passage of the Voting Rights Act, black voters in the South are poised to play a pivotal role in this year’s midterm elections. If Democrats win the South and hold the Senate, they will do so because of Southern black voters.

The timing — 50 years after the passage of the Civil Rights Act and 49 years after the passage of the Voting Rights Act — is not entirely coincidental. The trends increasing the clout of black voters reflect a complete cycle of generational replacement in the post-Jim Crow era. White voters who came of age as loyal Democrats have largely died off, while the vast majority of black voters have been able to vote for their entire adult lives — and many have developed the habit of doing so.

This year’s closest contests include North Carolina, Louisiana and Georgia. Black voters will most likely represent more than half of all Democratic voters in Louisiana and Georgia, and nearly half in North Carolina. Arkansas, another state with a large black population, is also among the competitive states.

Southern black voters have already made their mark on this year’s midterm elections. Last month, Senator Thad Cochran defeated a Tea Party challenger with the help of a surge in black turnout in a Republican run-off in Mississippi.

Black voters in the South have played an important role in a handful of federal elections since 1965, when the Voting Rights Act was passed. In 1976, Jimmy Carter won the presidency with the help of black voters in the Deep South. Democrats also won many competitive Senate seats in the South in 1998. Black voters have even played a decisive role in some states that will be crucial this November: They represented about half of Senator Mary Landrieu’s supporters in Louisiana 2002 and 2008; and in North Carolina in 2008, nearly half of President Obama’s supporters were black.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/19/upshot/black-southern-voters-poised-to-play-a-historic-role.html?smid=fb-share

[babylonsister]

1. PLEASE read this! nt

[McCamy Taylor]

2. The trick is putting the president on the ballot when he is not on the ballot.

IN 1998, the GOP put Clinton the ballot by impeaching him. Their gains were tiny compared to what the party out of power should have gotten in an off year. They did not get the Senate. Newt's career was ruined. I keep praying that they impeach Obama, but can they really be that stupid again? Yeah, I guess they can. They are Republicans.

Anyway, it's Dems job to make it about Obama. Because we do not have very many "celebrity" candidates out there to attract voters. In Texas we have Wendy. But who else will pull people to the polls just to vote for that candidate (and then give some more Dems some votes)?

[Chisox08]

4. The trick is actually using left-wing populism in the campaign and then

following up on it once you get elected. Also calling the Republicans out on their lies and not back down once the Republican whines about being called out on his lies. Start with their lies about jobs, jobs, jobs and work your way from there. They need to start talking about what they are going to do to relieve student loan debt that is hamstringing our economy, rebuilding our economy in a way it will help Americans struggling to keep food on the table.

Putting Obama on the ballot could work in some areas but it's not going to win enough seats to take the majority back in the House. If Democrats are willing to present and act on ideas that will help the average citizen it will pull people to the polls. Free trade agreements, not going after the Wallstreet criminals and not presenting a massive public works program that will not only rebuild our crumbling infrastructure but put millions of people to work, only adds to the narrative that they are all the same so why should I be bothered to vote.

[BumRushDaShow]

8. The messages need to be targeted by demographic and interest

Not "one size fits all". When you have a black population whose primary & secondary schools have been starved, destroyed, and then closed, all but eliminating chances to go to college, then "student loan debt" is irrelevant. The black community has always been the victim of white supremacists - whether from the banksters or from the far left paternalists who think they are "down with the hood" and other such nonsense... and little has changed with the repetitive patterns of the "last to be hired and the first to be fired" in our communities.

Your dismissal of "some areas" is exactly the mentality that marginalizes the most loyal demographic of the party. The continual racist attacks against Obama from the right and the idiotic associations of him with Wall Street criminals and esoteric single-issue stances from the left, turns off our voters from considering any participation at all despite your claims otherwise. Communities like those in my city have, every time since 1988, thrown the election to Democrats (statewide or national), when the city of Philadelphia brings out its massive black vote, effectively torpedoing the rest of the state and most notably, Pennsyltucky.

So Democrats need to tailor the message to the community and their needs AND the special circumstances that have made it especially challenging for that community, which may be completely different from other communities. And the community that needs some major GOTV when the chips are down, is NOT the black community, but the rest of the nation.

[Chisox08]

9. The problem with the schools both Democrats and Republicans are just as guilty

in shutting down and defunding schools in black communities. Look at Chicago Rahm Emanuel closed 50 schools and most of them in black communities, he closed the primary school that I went to on the West-side of Chicago, Calhoun and he pissed off the people where I grew up. When I go around and talk to people I hear they are all the same.
I agree Democrats needs to tailor their message to the community that they are going for, but they also need to follow through. If they are saying that they will be bring jobs, actually bring them. They need to stop saying that they will bring aid and disappearing until the next election with a whole new set of promises. The time for talking is over, I want to see some real action. Just like before Rahm got elected he came and made promises about bringing jobs to our community and hiring people from our community to fill those jobs. Did any of that happen? Hell no it didn't. That is what I'm talking about when I say people want to see some actions not just speeches and people talking down to us.

[BumRushDaShow]

10. The meme about "speeches"

is tiresome and irrelevant because ALL who run for office present an oratory to the people who they wish to elect them. The "speech" is a vision for what the person would like to see done. But the REALITY is pure civics and the manner in which this country was set up for governance. One person cannot unilaterally enact a policy despite the insistence by many on DU. The U.S. works through a tricameral process that might have 2 branches push through a policy targeted towards helping the people, only to have the 3rd branch throw the whole thing asunder. In essence, it requires a majority to agree (even if many disagree but are willing to agree to disagree without spending many waking hours trying to tear the agreement apart), and that is one of the most difficult-to-achieve objectives in the environment of the natural cut-throat potential of the number 3.

There needs to be more engagement at the state and local levels in order to build a foundation to positively impact the national level. But unfortunately, generations of political entanglements across every political party and persuasion, has made it difficult to move the juggernaut of progress without the heartbreak of many failures before a success can be obtained. And in this hyper-informational & hyper-infotainment society, much progress HAS been made but is drowned out by nonsense, hyperbole, and freak shows.

[Cha]

3. Kick!

[cordelia]

5. Kick

[rosesaylavee]

6. K&R

[mcar]

7. K&R

And a salute to my state's AA and Latino voters. They will make a difference in Florida this November!