Black voters look to leverage their loyalty

Associated Press ^ | Fri, Nov 23, 2012 | SUZANNE GAMBOA

[haffast]

WASHINGTON (AP) — When black voters gave President Barack Obama 93 percent support on Election Day in defiance of predictions that they might sit it out this year, black leaders breathed a collective sigh of relief.

That encouraged those leaders to try to leverage more attention from both Obama and Congress. Although they waver over how much to demand from the president — particularly in light of defeated GOP challenger Mitt Romney's assertion that Obama gave "gifts" to minorities in exchange for their votes — they are delivering postelection wish lists to the president anyway.

snip

Blacks made up 13 percent of the electorate this year, about the same as 2008, while participation among whites shrank slightly to 72 percent and Hispanics increased to 10 percent, national exit polls showed. Black leaders point to that minority participation as they sharpen their calls for initiatives to address black unemployment, which was 12.7 percent when Obama took office, peaked at 16.5 percent roughly a year later, and stood at 14.3 percent in October. The overall unemployment rate is 7.9 percent.

snip

The enthusiasm of black women was demonstrated in Florida when more than 250 churches marched their congregations to the polls as part of the "Souls To the Polls" early voting campaign, said Melanie Campbell, president and CEO of the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation. A large percentage of the marchers were women, Campbell said.

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[Venturer]

Whites simply will not stick together like blacks.

I suppose it has something to do with thinking for yourself and having someone else think for you.

They are much like the Borg.

[DwFry]

And 3rd world immigration would have stopped how? Romney claimed to want even more of it.

[CriticalJ]

“... and in return, the Democrats will let your community enjoy a 14% unemployment rate for the next 4 years - at which point, they’ll be calling on ya again. Repeat.”

14%. That’s being generous. I guess it’s the official number. Reality knows it’s much worse.