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Actually the conservatives share a common category with the blacks. They are considered captive voters by their respective parties so the move to the center is made with the assurance that they have no one else to vote for.

Business Week works from the same playbook as the New York Times.

Simply put, Bush was not going to support Jones (who had supported McCain in the primaries). And Simon was a relatively unknown figure. Therefore, Riordan, looked good. Simon fooled everyone. He is one smart campaigner, and he has figured out that Californians will listen to a straight talker who knows his bread and butter issues.

They are considered captive voters by their respective parties so the move to the center is made with the assurance that they have no one else to vote for.

Close but not quite true. The parties are 35 percent Democrat and 35 percent Republican and 30 percent in the middle.. give or take a percent or two each election cycle.

The blacks are 12 percent of the voters. If both parties bases stay in line it takes 51 percent to win. Every Democrat thinks about how to get to 51 percent. Getting from 35 to 51 percent demands the Democrat get 16 percent out of the middle. To do that the Democrat must move right.. He must move toward the center to get to 51 percent.

If he were to lose some of the blacks in the process he would not likely move more toward the blacks. If he loses half the blacks you might think he needs 6 more percent of the center to make up for it. It is true that if he goes after some more of the center he loses no center in the effort. But if he tries to regain the blacks he lost, he loses nearly all of the center. He gets the blacks back but is stuck at 35 percent. Since the Blacks are not likely to vote for a Republican he does not need to replace all the blacks he lost with people from the center. When a Democrat gets more than 15 percent out of the center it comes out of the potential Republican vote. Our Democrat then no longer needs 51 percent to win. With the six percent blacks gone to a Nader, he replaces them with 4 percent of the middle. Our Democrat now has 48 percent. But since our Republican will only get his 35 base and what is left of the center he gets a max of 46 percent. That is because the center went 19 to 11 for the Democrat. Democrat wins 48 to 46.

The same logic applies to conservatives. Conservatives like blacks can't elect anyone. But a bit over half of the center and most repubicans can. No Democrat with a brain will give up the center to gain all the blacks. And no Repubilcan with a brain would give up the center for all or even most of the right wing conservatives.

Conservatives rarely think about how to get what they want. They mostly think about punishing those Republicans that go after enough center to win. That is why Blacks get a lot of what they want and Conservatives do not.