http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2010/10/28/2010-10-28_in_midterm_elections_democrats_may_surprise_everyone__by_activating_the_black_an.htmlIn midterm elections, Democrats may surprise everyone -- by activating the black and Latino base
Errol Louis, NY Daily News
Thursday, October 28th 2010, 4:00 AM
The very bad day Democrats are expecting next Tuesday might not be as terrible as feared, according to some analysts not known for wishful thinking. There's abundant evidence - often ignored or discounted by mainstream media outlets - that the organized base of the Democratic Party is stirring in ways that pollsters and pundits are likely to miss.
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President Obama and the Democratic leadership, in fact, have been quietly firing up the black base. In recent weeks, the President has invited black bloggers and columnists to the White House and appeared on the national radio shows of Al Sharpton, Joe Madison and Tom Joyner.
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The Democratic National Committee has allocated $3 million to turn out black voters, which more than quadruples the highest amount they've ever spent. Jamal Simmons, a top D.C. operative, recently wrote that the DNC helped state parties contact more black voters in September of this year than in all of 2006.
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Another potential shot in the arm for Dems could come from Latino voters turned off by the harsh anti-immigrant rhetoric championed by many Republican candidates....."I think that the Latino vote is going to be the October surprise," says Maria Teresa Kumar, executive director of Voto Latino, a nonprofit advocacy organization. Kumar's group, which makes aggressive use of social media and technology, is organizing lunchtime flash mobs tomorrow to get voters to the polls in the early-voting states of Florida, California, Arizona, Texas and Colorado.
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We'll know in a few days whether these below-the-radar turnout efforts save the Dems from a debacle. It will play a great role in shaping strategy for the 2012 presidential election contest, which begins in earnest the morning after the Tuesday midterms.