What would it take for Obama or any other Democratic candidate to lose DC?

[DariusNJ]

A really bad scandal for the Democrat vs a moderate\liberal Republican.

Even then, I suspect the results would be something like 40% Republican, 30% Democrat, 30% third party.

[DS0816]

If black people starting thinking for themselves.

They have. And their conclusion is that the Democratic Party is a better option than the Republican Party. But why should you pretend to care—let alone recognize this?

[??????????]

If black people starting thinking for themselves.

They have. And their conclusion is that the Democratic Party is a better option than the Republican Party. But why should you pretend to care—let alone recognize this?

Sorry, 95% of any one group can never agree on any one political ideology w/out some sort of sheepishness involved.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_election_musical_chairs#February_2.2C_1999:_special_State_Assembly_election

[DS0816]

…A miracle!

[RIP Robert H Bork]

Nothing, unfortunately. DC would go for the Democrats regardless of the circumstances.

[memphis]

A fundamental shift in party platforms. That or a drop of the n-bomb.

[pbrower2a]

A nationally-rigged election. Of course that would be very difficult -- and dangerous, as Iran shows.

[Badger]

If black people starting thinking for themselves.

You mean like the white evangelicals in the South do?

Like that even makes sense. Sorry, but 95% of one group voting the same way, means that they don't think for themselves and just do what their brothas do. Ya heard?

Maybe instead of blaming such lopsided vote totals on 'the brothas', maybe you ought to place blame on the GOP itself?

<hint> start by not calling them 'brothas', you doofus.

[Zarn]

If black people starting thinking for themselves.

You mean like the white evangelicals in the South do?

Like that even makes sense. Sorry, but 95% of one group voting the same way, means that they don't think for themselves and just do what their brothas do. Ya heard?

Maybe instead of blaming such lopsided vote totals on 'the brothas', maybe you ought to place blame on the GOP itself?

<hint> start by not calling them 'brothas', you doofus.

He's not representative of the Republican Party.

That said, 95% is high.

[Vepres]

A massive epidemic that curiously only affects blacks and government workers descends on DC, killing 90% of all blacks and government workers there. The Democrats nominate Hitler while the Republicans nominate Jesus. Even then, it would only be a toss-up.

[Gravis Marketing]

If black people starting thinking for themselves.

It's insights like this that make me proud to be a member of this forum. *sigh*

[DS0816]

If black people starting thinking for themselves.

It's insights like this that make me proud to be a member of this forum. *sigh*

Consider who wrote it.

[pbrower2a]

Probably that anybody who thinks a majority of urban Blacks would vote for the party of the uber-rich, rural whites and southern racists if they "thought for themselves" obviously has had his brain surgically removed with a screwdriver.

There is an argument to be made - not saying it's correct, but it's certainly legit - that these kinds of margins aren't healthy and don't reflect Blacks' best interests. But reducing those margins to something more "normal" wouldn't make Republicans competitive in DC. At best it'd bring results back to where they were a generation ago.

What's worth noting is that the black middle class votes heavily Democratic. That is as a rule educated people, some with high-paying professions. The not-so-well-educated blacks in the middle class are business owners. Such people, one would think,  would have the same concern about taxes and property rights as similarly-paid white people, and would vote like the privileged class that they seem to be.

Many of those professionals rely heavily upon non-middle-class blacks as clients and thus Medicaid and legal stipends for the defense of the indigent.  As such those professionals know where their money comes from. Many of the black middle class are government employees (teachers, social workers) or contractors, and again they know that the taxpayer, and not the free market, pays them. Clergy? That's a big part of the black middle class, and guess who the flock is? It isn't well-heeled white people. Small business owners? Much of what goes through the till is TANF, so guess how they will vote if offered the chance to abolish welfare. They can't afford to let their businesses fail.

Add to this, the black middle class is urban or suburban. That shapes attitudes toward government spending. DC is specific enough.

Does anyone think the black middle class stupid? It isn't! It evidently can think for itself, and it knows where its vested interests are, and it so votes.

[DS0816]

If black people starting thinking for themselves.

They have. And their conclusion is that the Democratic Party is a better option than the Republican Party. But why should you pretend to care—let alone recognize this?

Sorry, 95% of any one group can never agree on any one political ideology w/out some sort of sheepishness involved.

Facts, please?

[CJK]

The GOP should be getting at least 20% of the black vote. I mean even hispanics, who are also mainly low income, gave 31% to the Republicans in the midst of a housing crisis that hurt them especially.

[Calvin and Hobbes]

DC gets struck by a Category 5 hurricane in late 2011, destroying most buildings in the city. The government relocates the Capitol, taking all the government workers with them. The land is resettled by Mormon missionaries, giving the Republicans a narrow victory. Of course, not long after the election, the area that was DC is retroceded to Maryland, never again to give its three electoral votes to the Republicans.

that sounds right.

[??????????]

If black people starting thinking for themselves.

They have. And their conclusion is that the Democratic Party is a better option than the Republican Party. But why should you pretend to care—let alone recognize this?

Sorry, 95% of any one group can never agree on any one political ideology w/out some sort of sheepishness involved.

Facts, please?

Common sense. What a drone like you fails to have.

http://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=79859.0 <~~~ Already been discussed here. I'm not rehashing it to satisfy you.

[Padfoot]

This just in: 95% of Americans believe democracy is the best form of government, other 5% can't define government.
Perhaps DC would vote Republican if the Republicans would actually let them vote.  Republicans repeatedly have blocked and/or voted against granting DC residents full voting rights.  What sane person votes for a party that is actively trying to prevent that person from voting in the first place?

[Vasall des Midas]

The not-so-well-educated blacks in the middle class are business owners.

The traditional small-business-owning Black middle class got destroyed by desegregation, curiously enough. (Unless it had secretly amassed a fortune at the business that it couldn't flaunt before, in which case its descendants tend to be in the business of being a moderate Black politician whom Whites can like - the Espys, grandsons and heirs of the owner of what was then the biggest funeral home chain in Mississippi, being a case in point.)
Of course there are lots of technically small-business-owning working class Blacks, but that's something else.



Agree with most of the remainder, of course. But then, nobody "should" vote Republican if you think it through that way, so I'd be wardy.

[Daniel Z]

The Democrats become the racist southern white party again.

[Rowan]

This just in: 95% of Americans believe democracy is the best form of government, other 5% can't define government.
Perhaps DC would vote Republican if the Republicans would actually let them vote.  Republicans repeatedly have blocked and/or voted against granting DC residents full voting rights.  What sane person votes for a party that is actively trying to prevent that person from voting in the first place?

DC isn't a state. Therefore, any "voting rights" would be unconstitutional.

[Smash255]

The current Republican Party offers very little to African Americans.  The southern strategy which still exists is also a major turnoff, and the Republicans don't even make an attempt to reach out.  Something they have at least tried to do with the Hispanic community.

[dialectical fetishist]

Obama to be caught in bed with a dead girl or a live boy.

And even then, it would still be a swing state.

[for those who don't get the reference:
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Edwin_Edwards ]