Posted on 07/01/2014 12:14:34 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Thad Cochran won a primary runoff by turning out the black vote. Now they are asking — what are you going to do for us?
Already the members of the Congressional Black Caucus are talking about what they want Cochran to do. The wish list is filling up with ideas like maintaining funding for food stamps, beefing up programs that help poor blacks in Mississippi and even supporting the Voting Rights Act.
Continue Reading Text Size -+reset Latest on POLITICO Big cyber hack of health records is "only a matter of time" Clark Hill adds 2 in public affairs Hobby Lobby part of Santorum film Christie: I won't hold court Ky. gay marriage ban struck down Airstrikes start after teens found dead “Absolutely we have expectations,’’ Rep Marcia Fudge (D-Ohio) said in an interview.
(Also on POLITICO: Dems' best shot in Mississippi)
And while Cochran beat back a tea party challenger last week by reminding voters, particularly black voters, that he brings home the federal bucks, the policy asks are far more liberal than much of what the moderate Republican has championed in his four decades in office.
But that’s the Washington game. Cochran asked for a favor, and now his new supporters are plotting how to cash it in.
“My hat is off to Sen. Cochran for being as desperate as he was, to actually go out and, up front, go out and ask for those votes,” said Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.). “Those votes were delivered, and I’m hopeful he will be responsible and responsive to the voters that pushed him over the top.”
Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.) agreed that Cochran has an opportunity to support the black community.
(Also on POLITICO: McDaniel digs in)
“What I hope happens is that he comes to the realization that African-Americans are the reason I have this final six years and therefore I’m going to try and be more responsible than I have been,” Cleaver said.
Their sentiment was echoed around the Capitol and in Mississippi following Cochran’s win over tea party favorite Chris McDaniel, fueled by a surge in black voters in the Mississippi Delta. Turnout increased overall in Mississippi for the runoff, but counties that are majority black, like Jefferson County, saw voters came to the polls in record numbers.
Cochran isn’t expected to draw a huge black vote in November for the general election, but blacks still want him to remember his primary campaign promise to use his seniority to help his poor black constituents.
“Mississippi is the poorest state in the union,” said Fudge. “I think he is a very decent man. I also think there comes a point in time where every single elected official has to do what’s best for the people he represents, and his state is 35 percent minority and poor.”
(Also on POLITICO: 'Thank God for Mississippi!')
Cochran’s campaign did not respond to requests for comment.
Campaigning before the runoff, Cochran made no apologies for seeking black and Democratic votes.
Cochran said that party affiliation is a “state of mind” in Mississippi and that “everybody can participate.”
Vicksburg Mayor George Flaggs Jr. said that Cochran’s seniority was a major reason that the veteran Republican lawmaker got his support. Flaggs said he will support Cochran in the general election and that it is important he stays in office so that Mississippi can benefit from his longevity in Congress, particularly since earmarks are gone.
NAACP Mississippi state President Derrick Johnson said in an interview that the NAACP is looking for Cochran’s support.
“Two things that we think should come immediately after the election [are] his support of the Voting Rights Act … free of any provisions that would allow for voter ID and, second, to get the presidents of the black colleges to ask for his offices for help to make sure the [missions] of those institutions are carried out,” he said.
McDaniel and his tea party supporters have criticized Cochran for seeking out Democrats in the runoff.
“In the case of yesterday’s election, we must be absolutely certain that our Republican primary was won by Republican voters,” McDaniel said in a statement Wednesday. “In the coming days, our team will look into the irregularities to determine whether a challenge is warranted.”
Some McDaniel supporters have questioned the results and are advocating a write-in campaign for the general election.
Cochran will face former Democratic lawmaker Travis Childers in November.
Although Cochran may not have seemed like a natural choice for many black voters, Rep. Bennie Thompson said that he was the better alternative.
“Thad Cochran represented an opportunity to vote against times past,” the Mississippi Democrat said. “I think what McDaniel represented to a lot of black people who observed the race is a time past. And for so many of those individuals who suffered in the times past, they were not about to see that happen again.”
While CBC members are looking for Cochran to make good on his inroads with blacks, they also hope a Democrat will ultimately get elected in Mississippi.
Thompson said blacks’ support for Cochran won’t happen when there is a Democrat on the ballot.
“If you have Democrats and Republicans on the ballot, I think a substantial majority of those people voting who are black will vote Democratic,” Thompson said. “It’s not that I’m not worried; I’m a Democrat, but if Childers stays in the race I’ll support him.”
Fudge agreed.
Fudge believes Democrats could eventually win the Senate seat. “It may not happen this time, but I believe it could happen this time because of the black and minority population, but more importantly because they’ve seen what their vote can do,” said Fudge, who plans to campaign for Childers.
I have a feeling you won't have to worry long about paying off your debt anyway.
Congressional Black Caucus = racist cabal
Gee, who didn’t see this coming?
With all the stuff he has stirred up, Cochran better pray he loses in the election.
Just when you thought everything that could possibly be wrong with this situation had already presented itself ...
Thad should introduce an all-encompassing reparations bill to the Senate.
“Mo’ money, mo’ money, mo’ money”
His role is to get elected and retire.
Then the governor and the GOPe can sell his seat for top $.
Once you agree to whore the only remaining detail to discuss is price.
Let’s ask Mitch McConnell and John McCain how they feel about this. Because it isn’t just Cochran that owes them. It’s the entire GOPe that owe them.
The only other thing that comes to mind at this time is GOPe leadership, not wanting to pander to blacks quietly ask Cochran to start spending more time with the grand kids, especially if they won this by fraud and then still owe the CBC. And if McDaniel doesn’t let this go, which he shouldn’t, I am betting Cochran retires.
So the “Congressional Black Caucus” (wonder why there’s no Congressional White Caucus?) who mostly represent states other than Cochran’s Mississippi, think that they own those blacks who voted for Thad? Or am I missing something? Doesn’t that have more than a whiff of slavery to it? Not that blacks didn’t own black slaves here or elsewhere in history, because they did. But still, kind of ironic, isn’t it?
No, he doesn’t. They already sold themselves for $15.
Yet another reason not to vote for Cochroach.
The CBC somehow missed that vote-buying is illegal or they are so insinuated in they just forgot it?
It’s a normal thing in their districts and has been for forever.
Note to black caucus :
He doesn’t pay his bills
I think the word they wanted is “own”, not “owe”
The phrase Pyrrhic Victory comes to mind. They got you on a short, tight leash Cochran. You WILL get jerked around, guaranteed.
Maxine Waters and Sheila Jackson Lee are going you live with you , LOL
If I was him I’d tell them to wait until after the general election. See where their votes go then.
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