I live in Ohio and am from Pennsylvania.
I remember when Ken Blackwell and Lynn Swan were both running for Gov.
I was convinced that it was a lock for both since they would get the Republican vote - plus a higher percentage of the black vote.
There must have been a lot of republicans who couldn't pull the lever for a black candidate since Ed Rendell and Ted Strickland won easily - as I recall.
It was pretty disapointing.
There were other factors, as well.
Recall that 2006 was not a good year for Republicans, in general.
The Republican base was generally disspirited by an unresponsive GOP majority in Congress and an apparently drifting Bush administration.
I rather doubt that the drop-off in votes for Blackwell, et al, had anything to do with their color -- but was, instead, a mass revulsion for the governing GOP.
In any event, I don't recall the black vote moving more than a point-or-two in favor of the Republican black candidates.