Not my words, but the words of Donna (Cooking With Grease) Brazille. This was said in regards to the latest poll showing Hillary Clinton leading Barak Obama with both the Black vote and the Black woman vote.
“The ‘sistah’ vote is paying off handsomely for Hillary Clinton,” said Democratic political strategist Donna Brazile. “It’s not only getting her the women’s vote. It’s also getting her the black vote.”
Here is some more of the article:
WASHINGTON (CNN) — Sen. Hillary Clinton’s lead over Sen. Barack Obama, her chief rival for the Democratic presidential nomination, is growing among African-American voters who are registered Democrats, and particularly among black women, a poll said Wednesday.
Among black registered Democrats overall, Clinton had a 57 percent to 33 percent lead over Obama.
That’s up from 53 percent for Clinton and 36 percent for Obama in a poll carried out in April.
The 26-point difference between black women and men underscores the fact that the nation’s vote is divided not only by race, but also by gender, said CNN political analyst Bill Schneider. “Black women don’t just vote their black identity,” he said. “They also vote their identity as women.”
Among white registered Democrats, Clinton drew 49 percent support, versus 18 percent for Obama and 17 percent for former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina, the latest poll found.
The question had a sampling error of plus-or-minus 6.5 percentage points.
The former first lady’s strongest support among blacks came from black women, 68 percent of whom identified her as their likely choice, versus 25 percent who cited Obama, the senator from Illinois who is African-American.
I found this to be interesting…
Black registered Democrats also appeared more sure of themselves than did whites, with two-thirds (67 percent) of blacks saying they would definitely support whichever candidate they had said they favored, versus one-third (33 percent) who said they might change their minds.
I also found this to be quite interesting…
Clinton maintained an overwhelming lead among black registered voters when pitted against former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, besting the leading GOP presidential candidate 86 percent to 13 percent.
But when the same question was asked of white registered voters, the senator from New York’s lead vanished, with Giuliani outpolling her 57 percent to 40 percent.
Mini analysis: I think that there is no question that Democrats will once again gain the Black vote. As I have said many times already on this site, Obama’s experience and lack of a deep political bench I believe is starting to show (don’t confuse massive media attention with earned political capital). There is too much to gain within the beltway in backing a former first lady whose husband is not only loved around the world, but has the connections to prove it than a newcomer. As far as those of us outside the beltway–particularly with Black women, I think experience does play a role greater than the fact that she is a woman (I’m not going to run with the assumption that women are that shallow). If Obama does get picked as her running mate, it will definitely help him in a future role for the presidency. What is going to be interesting to watch is the Black community’s response to a White woman President and a Black man as a running mate.
Last thing: Despite all of the missteps of the Republican candidates, I still think that it will be unwise to sleep on them based on the findings of this poll. Yes, I know it is just another poll, but I think it is still very telling. There has been too much focus on the bling of one side and not enough decent and complete analysis of the choices Americans will make between Clinton and Giuliani. I don’t think that it is going to be the Democratic blow out folks are predicting.
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