Posted on 11/25/2011 9:27:38 AM PST by Steelfish
Cain’s Assertion That He Could Win Over Black Voters Is Dismissed By Analysts
Vanessa Williams November 24
Herman Cain’s turn atop the polls in the contest for the Republican presidential nomination captured the attention of journalists and pundits and sparked excitement among grass-roots conservative activists.
But is it really possible that he — a black man who overcame poverty in the segregated South to become a wealthy entrepreneur and front-runner in the GOP race — would be the one to bring African American voters back to their original political home?
Cain seems to think so. In a mailer sent to Iowa voters recently, the candidate says “as a descendent of slaves I can lead the Republican party to victory by garnering a large share of the black vote, something that has not been done since Dwight Eisenhower garnered 41 percent of the black vote in 1956.”
It is a proposition that was quickly dismissed by political scholars and analysts, including some members of Cain’s party. Although he has done better than any other black Republican presidential candidate in terms of attracting support, few believe Cain could snare a sizable number of black voters in a general election, especially against President Obama.
“If he’s talking about 41 percent of black voters in the Republican primary, he might be right,” Michael Dawson, an African American political science professor at the University of Chicago, said with a chuckle. But in a general election against President Obama, who got 95 percent of the black vote in 2008 and remains popular among African Americans, Dawson said Cain “would be lucky to get 10 percent” of the black vote.
Besides being remarkable for its optimistic electoral calculation, Cain’s claim is unusual because he has made no special effort to appeal directly to black voters.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
So a real, 100% black man, descended from slaves, a Christian and successful businessman can’t beat a proto-Muslim, half African disgrace to his office? Pull the other one, it’s got bells on it!
He can’t win them all over but he can win some over and that is more than any other republican in the race can do.
Is this “THE” Vanessa Williams?
Typical leftist media and Democrat thinking...minorities must be pandered to in order to gain their votes.
Cain is smarter than that. He's banking on the blacks who will see him for what he is, not empty promises.
GWB got 11% of the black vote in 2004; there's no reason to think Cain couldn't get 15-20%. I'll guarantee this: None of the other Republicans would get more than 7% (and that may be optimistic.)
I don’t know why Cain would waste time and money reaching out to Black voters in the runup to the Republican primaries. How many Blacks are registered as Republican?
Well, in the state where I live, MD, you have to be a registered republican to vote on the GOP primary. Black registrations are 85% plus for the Dems, I think. So it may not help Cain much in this state for the primary.
No.
Open primaries in several states.
“He can’t win them all over but he can win some over and that is more than any other republican in the race can do.”
That’s a fact. And that will win him the election.
He doesn’t have to get huge numbers of black votes to win in places like Michigan. Just pulling 2 or 3 percent more than Mitt Romney could end Romney’s race.
Obviously the race against Obama would be tougher but his chances against Obama here are better than anyone else.
Its also our best chance of finally ending the race based politics once and for all.
I think Herman can beat Obama, but he won't pull the sort of support from black voters that he thinks he will. Maybe I'm just cynical because I used to be a black Democrat, but I just don't see him doing it.
Being a conservative Republican is a deal-breaker that trumps race for most black voters. It's going to take more than the election of a right-wing black president to shift a significant portion of blacks out of the slave party.
Far better.
“Is this “THE” Vanessa Williams?”
I had wondered the same.
Now that we know the answer is “no,” the actress is so very talented.
(Since I am not PC, I use the word “actress.”)
The author is an idiot.
No one in their right mind would waste time courting the Black vote for a Republican primary.
Cain is a businessman, and he won’t waste time where it won’t be productive. What is one of his mantras? “Start by working on the right problem.”
But if he gets the Republican nomination, then he’ll pull out all the stops and start courting the Black vote. Not before.
2012, wouldn’t be the real value. The transformative value would be in having a Clarence Thomas constitutional conservative in the White House, with the loudest microphone in the world, and using it to lay waste to the Big Lie perpetuated by the left/media/race industry.
There can be no greater contribution to the conservative movement than that.
If Cain really believes he can draw more black voters to the GOP because he is black, then he’s just practicing another form of racism. That’s a shame.
Yeah...but it has you leftists at the WaPo nervous, hasn’t it!
Herman Cain does not have to reach out to Black voters, Herman Cain does not have to reach out to Hispanic voters, Herman Cain does not have to reach out to White voters, Herman Cain does not have to reach out to “All” minority voters!!!
Herman Cain simply has to reach out to “All” American voters, period!!! Enough Blacks, Hispanics, other minorities and overwhelmingly Whites, will support the Cain effort to “game change” America, tossing that “racism Jive” under the bus, freeing Blacks from the “Obama/Democrat/CBC/NAACP” economic slave plantation they have been kept on, and giving all Americans the same starting line of equality, opportunity, freedom, liberty, education and reward from hard work and indivdual effort!!!
Some liberal buffoon ranting that Cain will get very few minority votes is just plain hogwash!!! if Herman Cain garners the Pubbie POTUS nominee slot and gives the VP nod to Marco Rubio, Michelle Bachmann or Sarah Palin, Obama loses in a landslide and the current Democrat Party wil be just about devastated politically from any legislative effectivity whatsoever!!!
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