Free Republic

President Barack Obama is turning to black radio listeners to plead for midterm votes, a targeted approach to drum up Democratic support at a time when many candidates don’t want him around in person.African-American turnout will be vital to Democrats’ hopes in states such as Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana and North Carolina that will help determine control of the Senate. And Obama remains beloved among black voters even if Democratic candidates in those races are running away from him amid the president’s low overall approval ratings. “This isn’t about my feelings being hurt,” Obama told the Rev. Al Sharpton in one...

How to get kicked off black radio station. Turns out, it is not that hard. Just follow these directions. First, write a book about race. In my case, the book is “White Girl Bleed a Lot: The return of racial violence to America and how the media ignore it.” Then write an article for WND about how Chicago is Ground Zero for this new epidemic of racial crime and violence.

Jeff Johnson knows how to make his audiences squirm. The young, black radio and TV political commentator waits for the discussion to turn to the topic being talked about ceaselessly, incessantly, ad nauseam: the meaning of the barrier-breaking election of Barack Obama. Then, in his laid-back style, he says, "The real issue for me is that history is not enough." That's when the mood becomes tense. "Black folks, in particular, get irritated," says Johnson, who travels the lecture circuit, hosts a half-hour show on Black Entertainment Television and has a weekly spot for social criticism on a radio program popular...

Since Mr. Limbaugh first flexed his tonsils two decades ago, Democrats have publicly worried about their lack of an answer to him and his imitators, who have proven so adept at motivating conservative Republicans to go to the polls, especially for President Bush. Now it is Mr. Obama, the presumptive Democratic nominee, who has a harmonious chorus of broadcast supporters addressing a vital part of his coalition, feeding and reflecting the excitement blacks have for his candidacy in general. Mr. Obama is getting support from white liberal talk radio hosts as well, but the backing he is getting from black...

Group Runs Anti-Kerry Ads on Black Radio Stations By Thomas B. Edsall Washington Post Staff Writer Thursday, August 12, 2004; Page A01 A group financed by a major Republican contributor has begun running radio ads in about a dozen cities, many in battleground states, attacking Sen. John F. Kerry as "rich, white and wishy-washy" and mocking his wife for boasting of her African roots. The D.C.-based group, People of Color United, has substantial financial backing from J. Patrick Rooney, the former chairman of Golden Rule Insurance Co. and the founder of a new firm, Medical Savings Insurance Co. Both firms...