Re: Clinton v. Obama = 0
<font size="5"><center>
Clinton may see black backlash
if Obama loses nomination</font size><font size="4">
Some minority voters say they'll feel cheated and won't vote
or former first lady, causing trouble for Democrats in fall.</font size></center>
If Sen. Barack Obama doesn't
get the nomination, some African
Americans say they won't go to
the polls.
American Statesman
By Ken Herman
WASHINGTON BUREAU
Saturday, May 03, 2008
HICKORY, N.C. — It spans the spectrum from moderate to militant, but it's not difficult to tap into a potential backlash among African American supporters of Sen. Barack Obama if superdelegates give the Democratic presidential nomination to Sen. Hillary Clinton.
Some people in North Carolina, site of a key primary on Tuesday, say they fear a backlash will happen. Some say they expect it.
Some even say it could cause a rift in blacks' long-standing allegiance to the Democratic Party.
And some, such as Sharon Crosby of Lawndale, N.C., say they'd stay home rather than vote for Clinton in November.
"How would I feel? I would feel cheated, cheated ... We need to do it right," said Crosby, 51, who is self-employed.
And what of failing to exercise a basic right that blacks fought many years to get?
"I wouldn't feel good about it because I have always voted," she said. "But sometimes you just have to stand for what you believe in, and, no, I wouldn't (vote)."
For Democrats eager to recapture the White House, that's not good news. In a year when close races in a handful of swing states could determine the election's outcome, neither party can afford erosion in its core.
"We're talking about quite a few swing states in terms of the kinds of states that Democrats would be looking to win," said David Bositis of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies.
Bositis said he thinks that in the end many black voters would choose to support Clinton should she win the Democratic nomination.
But it's not hard to find black supporters of Obama who say there's no way they'd back Clinton.
"I'd feel dissatisfied, really dissatisfied, because I think in other words if (Obama) is leading in all categories and if something like that comes by I know he has been shafted," said Jack Corpening of Valdese, N.C., a postal worker who is retired from the military. "I'm pretty well seeing that's what's going to happen."
Corpening said that would make him a nonvoter. He said he could not bring himself to back Clinton or probable Republican nominee Sen. John McCain of Arizona. He said it's a scenario that could damage the black-Democratic alliance.
"When you separate the party, it's going to cause a lot of problems," he said.
Delores Littlejohn, 68, of Gastonia, N.C., said she doesn't take such an extreme view.
She is an Obama fan — so much so that she hobbled on an injured ankle to the Illinois senator's recent appearance at Hickory High School — and she said she'd be upset if Obama is not nominated. However, Littlejohn said she'd back Clinton if she prevails.
"I probably wouldn't like it, but I still would support her," she said.
Clinton spokesman Phil Singer spoke mostly in general terms when asked about black voters' concerns about the New York senator. "Both candidates have strong and passionate supporters who we believe will come together to send a Democrat to the White House," Singer said.
Obama supporter Edith Childs, a Greenwood, S.C., council member credited with bringing Obama's signature "Fired up" chant to the campaign, declined to even speculate about the possibility of Obama not winning the nomination. When asked if she could guarantee she would in November continue her longtime policy of voting for Democratic presidential nominees, she said: "Well, kind of, sort of, probably. That's the best I can do."
Former Dallas Mayor Ron Kirk, an Obama backer and unsuccessful 2002 candidate to become the first black Texan in the U.S. Senate, cautioned against reading too much into the rhetoric.
"Asking people (now) what they think is not at all going to be indicative of how they're going to behave in November," Kirk said.
"I'm as guilty as anyone of parroting some of that," he said of anti-Clinton talk.
"Sen. Clinton, if you believe her rhetoric that she's uniquely suited to lead the country ... she ought to be good enough based on her background and experience to win without having to kneecap Barack Obama," Kirk said. "The tenor and tone of her campaign speaks for itself."
Political scientists who study the voting patterns of black people say Kirk is right in cautioning against assuming April anger will equal November action.
"Some of it is an expression of frustration and anger of the moment," said Michael Fauntroy of George Mason University. "Some of them say they are not going to vote for Hillary Clinton. Many of the people who say that will ultimately end up voting for Hillary Clinton because they will conclude that the McCain alternative is unacceptable."
But Fauntroy warns against underestimating concerns among black voters about what's going on.
"I believe this is a very touchy subject because there are some African Americans who are so distrustful of the political system that they believe that it is going to be stolen from them anyway," he said. "If Obama does not end up with the nomination these voters are going to feel he had it stolen from him."
Even a sliver of resentment toward Clinton could make a difference in swing states such as Missouri, Pennsylvania, Florida and Illinois if black voters don't back her, Fauntroy said.
Ron Walters, a University of Maryland political scientist who advised the Rev. Jesse Jackson's campaigns, also has heard the talk.
"People have used all of those terms — cheated, stolen — and more. And the thing of it is the passion," he said. "It's going to probably cost the Democrats from 8 to 10 percentage points this fall, and that could decide the election. At least half of those people probably mean what they say."
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/nation/05/03/0503demsblacks.html
I also doubt if Hillary gets the nod she will pick him as VP, there's been too much bad blood said between the camps, I think she will pick Edwards first.
