The Battle for the Black Vote in 2004

The general election of 2004 remains some 15 months away as I write this, and already presidential candidates on both sides are lining up to corral the black vote.

Black voters can take great pride in the fact that both parties are finally fighting for our votes, but it is the Democrat party that has the most to lose and the Republican party that could be a major beneficiary.

Black liberal Democrat activists Jesse Jackson, Julian Bond and Ron Waters have been howling up a storm over the recent outreach efforts by President Bush to black voters. Bush has taken the road less traveled and is taking his message past them in his effort to reach out to the black community.

For the 2nd year Bush has chose to address the more moderate Urban League's convention over the more radical NAACP. When the Democrat presidential candidates sought to rebut Mr. Bush at the convention, most of the candidates addressed a mostly empty auditorium. This should serve as an omen to the Democrat party; blacks feel that the Democrat party has taken them for granted for the last 35+ years.

Nowhere in the Democrat party do blacks hold any real leadership positions (other than ranking members, vice chairmanships and special committees). These positions only give black Democrats the illusion of leadership.

When Richard Gephardt stepped down in the wake of the Democrat's disastrous showing in the mid-term elections, Rep. Harold Ford (D-Tenn.) sought to lead the Democrats in the House

Ford found himself bullied and pushed out of the way by ultra-liberal Nancy Pelosi (D-Ca.) and her extremist backers. Mr. Ford found that some of his so-called friends later became his most rabid enemies in the battle to lead the Democrats. Congressional Black Caucus members stabbed him in the back, publicly disgraced him in stating that he was too much of a junior congressmen to lead the party in the house. Ron Waters openly stated that Ford was not liberal enough to lead the party in the house.

How did Ms. Pelosi repay the loyalty of the Congressional Black Caucus after she ascended to the top spot in the House? Appointing James Cylburn to a simply bootlick vice chairman position under the number 3 Democrat in the House.

The Democrat National Committee under the leadership of Chairman Terry McAuliffe has been no friend to blacks and black Democrat candidates either. Black candidates Ron Kirk and Carl McCall found that out when they received no money or support in their election bids in 2002. Under Chairman Terry McAuliffe's "Reign of Terror" everyone has become expendable for the right price, but blacks even more so. Black Democrat activists, lobbyist, and entry-level workers at party headquarters live in fear of the DNC's Anti-Affirmative Action Policy of "last hired, first fired." Simply put "when cash is tight at Party Headquarters and you are black, put your resume online quickly."

Mr. McAuliffe's chairmanship is as failed as it is tainted. One only needs to remember how the party's faithful were bullied into appointing him over the more qualified and moderate Maynard Jackson. Mr. McAuliffe's first move as chairman was to appoint Mr. Jackson to a purely token position within the DNC. Within a year's time Jackson had stepped down and basically went to his grave battling McAuliffe for the soul of the Democrat Party.

President Bush and his advisors seem to have gotten the message that past efforts of the Republican Party to reach out to black voters have been substandard at best and bad comedy at worst. The GOP's message has not reached those blacks it should have. It has lacked an authentic voice. It seemed that those in charge of outreach at the party's headquarters were more interested in personal enrichment and resume enhancements than bringing in new black voters.

Mr. Bush and Party Leaders need to replace those who headed the party's 2000 and 2002 minority voter outreach, since Republicans were not able increase their portion of the black vote. The only reason Republicans were able to retain control of the House and regain the Senate was due to discontent among minorities with the Democrat Party and its leadership. In other words, black voters stayed home.

The die has been cast for the 2004 general election, but I would caution both parties that blacks in America deserve respect. We will not stand by and have this election turned into a battle between panderers (Democrats) and panderers-lite (Republicans). Either respect us as people and fight for our votes or we will stay home again.

We deserve to be treated as individuals, as part of the American mosaic, and as patriots; not as an election year mistress or a mindless voting bloc for sale to the highest bidder

Kevin L. Martin is an Advisor and Member of Project 21. He has served as the former Government and Political Affairs Director to the African American Republicans Leadership Council. He has appeared as a political commentator on FOX News. View a photo of Mr. Martin.

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It offends me that so many Black people want special attention. America was supposed to be a melting pot - why don't Blacks want the same thing the rest of us do - good education, job opportunity, safe streets, etc.? They must not, because they don't vote for the person who will give them those things. They vote Dem., because the Dems promise them special attention.
And IMO, heck will freeze over before we get any of those things from Dems.
Statistically, about 8% of Blacks will vote GOP at least sometimes. Thos are the people who can make a difference. They can sway Black votes, and us whites can't.

If you had the money, what would you do?

In Illinois we should follow the successful models already in place. Far right campaign consultant built a winning campaign in the Black areas of Chicago Hts.

Eight US Senate candidates will spend over 80 million for the Republican nomination. They should spend 40 million of that to hire grassroots organizers in MANY communities. Both Black, White, Hispanic, blue collar, white collar, farmer, Evangelical, Catholic, Moslem, Sikh, Hindu. The problem in Illinois is not just a lack of reach-out to Blacks. The inner-circle of the country-clubbers is so afraid of losing their cushy positions, they are afraid to reach out to anyone.

And yes, Blacks should be included in the outreach. There was a high number of Blacks at the Republican booth at the state fair. 7 of eight candidates thought it was great to have so many Blacks present. Only the supporters of the pro-abortion candidate (who are also loyal bootlickers of the pro-abort state party chair) used blatant racist names and comments and said Blacks had no place in a Republican party. (That Illinois Blacks who go Republican are overwhelmingly pro-life may have had something to do with the emotional oppositon of the establishment types.)

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