Black voters are a key as Dean courts South

[retyred]

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2003/10/14/black_voters_are_a_key_as_dean_courts_south/

On a recent Friday night Dean marched into a town hall meeting at the Morris Brown African Methodist Episcopal Church in this coastal city. His campaign was particularly excited about the gathering, billing it as an opportunity for Dean to connect with black voters. Indeed, the pews were crammed with Southerners eager to hear the former Vermont governor, some with cameras to capture the moment, some from as far away as Raleigh, N.C. And many seemed quite taken by him.

But the audience was nearly all white, many of them Dean fans who had heard about the event through the campaign. The church's largely black congregation had been told of Dean's visit the Sunday before at services, but few came.

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Political observers say that regional favoritism could come out in the wash for the candidate able to make significant inroads with black voters, many of whom are believed to be unaligned, having fervently supported the Clinton-Gore ticket for so long and now resurfacing to find that many of the Democratic candidates are without significant ties to the black community. And no Democratic candidate has received more criticism for failing to build a diverse base of support than Dean.

"Nobody is going to be elected president without mobilizing this key constituency," said Richard Harpootlian, former chairman of the South Carolina Democratic Party. "They have been the most loyal members of the party, and if you can't motivate the African-American community, you can't win."

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if you can't motivate the African-American community, you can't win."

This could make it or break it for any candidate especially one from the north….” The man is a Yankee.” Is all southern blacks seem to care about.


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