Talk Elections

Randy Brock, Vermont State Auditor - an African-American Republican - has lost his bid for re-election after the recount.  According to politics1, that leaves just two black Republicans left in statewide offices anywhere in the country.  This is a sad day for America.  Happy auditing, Democrats.

I would definitely like to see more black Republicans elected (as well as more white Democrats, especially in heavily black areas), but candidates like Michael Steele and Ken Blackwell aren't going to cut it since they offer little rationale for voting for themselves other than their race.

Not that I'm claiming that black Democratic candidates are usually any better, but it's still something to consider.

Please don't put Mike Steele and Ken Blackwell in the same category.  That's like putting Artur Davis and Cynthia McKinney in the same league.

I'd like to see better black Democrats in Philadelphia.  Seriously, the only decent ones are Michael Nutter and Dwight Evans.  I also like State Rep. Cherelle Parker and State Sen. LeAnne Washington, but a good number (Fattah, Reynolds-Brown, Kitchen, Street) are jokes. 

Oh I agree completely that they are far from comparable overall, though in this case they did share that one thing in common.

Interestingly both did quite well for a Republican with black voters. Steele drew 25 percent of the black vote, and even Blackwell actually managed to get 20 percent. However Steele only barely won the white vote while Blackwell lost it by nearly 20 points.

Vermont is the 2nd whitest state in the Union.

Brock's first victory was over a scandal plagued incumbent in an unfavorable year for Vermont Republicans.

Now, in an even worse year for them, he only narrowly lost.

As for that last sentence.

Don, Democrats are not the ones to blame for the problems that face Black Republicans.

After all, we didn't make your party nominate an opponent of the Civil Rights Act in 1964.

Fun notes: Data from Louisiana tells us that only 4% of registered Republicans are African-American. Also, 3% of American Americans are registered Republican.

Maybe that is the Democrats fault. After all, we actually accomplished things to help their lives. :D

Don't forget that Republicans in Congress might now all be white or Cuban.

Another problem when it comes to Black Republicans: They'll never try to compete against Incumbent African-American Democrats.

Sure, the districts involved are heavily Democratic. But it really doesn't seem like there is an alternative being offered either.

Republicans didn't hold primaries in 14 Texas primaries in 2006.

Karl Rove recognizes the problems the GOP will have if they don't keep a strong percentage of latino voters.

It's the difference between some discomfort, and having 3 decades of whuppings.

I say three decades because there's always a shot down the road that Hispanic voters move to the GOP as they move up the societial ladder.

Sorta like what happened with Catholics in America.

Err...there are African Americans in Vermont?

And one was Republican?

And he held a significant elected office?

Hold on...I had to do a double take.

this thread is not complete until someone makes a city map for this election

I find your fascination with black Republicans perplexing.

I don't suppose Don likes the Black Caucus, if you know what I mean?

Great news!

How so?  Brock was superior to Tom Salmon (son of a former governor) in all regards, save party affiliation.  I would hold that partisanship of the State Auditor surely matters less than his ability to audit, but apparently the people of Vermont disagree.  It was probably the last name more than party, though, that helped Salmon, since even Dubie was reelected this year.

This was one Republican I would have preferred, a rare honor shared perhaps only by Jim Leach.

Micheal Steele pretty much made his run for office about offering something new in Washington. Also Steele is pretty moderate if you look at his record.

Steele doesn't have a legislative record.  Looking at his viewpoints, it seems he only breaks from conservatives on affirmative action, the death penalty and some environmental issues.

I'm suprised Vermont had ANY black statewide office holder, regarldess of party.

Why, exactly, should America care about the office of Vermont state auditor?  I doubt even most Vermonters care, or even know who this guy is.

Yeah, it'll decrease to 85% for about 40 years in the mid 21st century.

;)

You shouldn't be.  The people of Vermont are some of the most open minded in the country... Except for supporting flatlanders =).

I assume that was more on the statistical basis that Vermont is less than 1/100th black.

"Something new", like being an extreme conservative packed into an African-American body. His whole campaign was, "Vote for me, I'm black." I have less respect for Steele than for Ken Blackwell (!!!)

Lord, I strongly disagree.  Competence is such an important measure, especially in a state office!  I would happily vote for an ultraconservative/ultraliberal AG, for instance, if they did a good job and weren't overtly political.


I agree.


I really don't think ultra-white, ultra-liberal districts do all that better.  It just tends to be that the most Democratic districts are often the most black (with some significant exceptions).

Maybe it wasn't the color of his skin but the content of his character.

Don, did you agree with the Memphis people who said the 9th congressional seat should go to an AfAm? I, for one, am fairly pleased about Cohen, though he needs to shut up about any more lotteries.

Of course you are pleased about Cohen.  He's white, Democratic, and liberal, what more could you ask for?

I don't agree that any one race "owns" a seat or that whites aren't qualified to serve blacks and vice versa.  I think that sort of thinking is damaging and dangerous.

However, when you consider that there are a limited number of districts where qualified African-Americans would get a chance to serve, the situation deserves some serious thought and consideration.

I would support Mark White for any office he chose to ran for, whether dog-catcher or President... but I honestly would have preferred that Derrick Bennett be our Congressional nominee and have Mark run for something else.

I do believe it is important that an elected official, where possible, not just be a representative, but be representative of the district that he or she serves.  It is admittedly hard for an impoverished African-American youth to identify with our new well-off white/Jewish Congressman.

Now we have Carol Chumney running for Mayor.  What kind of message are we sending to the African-American community?  The city and congressional district have overwhelming black majorities but have (and may) elect whites  because of splits in the black vote.

I couldn't care less what color he is, Don.

I didn't mean it like that - I forgot you were from Nashville.   You come from a part of the wold where there are lots of white Democrats.  Here, there are very few white Dems, though they are well represented in elected offices. (Only about 12% of Democrats in this county are white)

Look at the TN-09 Democratic primary map and then tell me that race doesn't matter to white Memphis Democrats.
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Of course it is theirs.  It is also their fault for not realizing that there is more than one political party that they can use to promote their interests.

I believe in and cherish minority representation in public office.  It is the best that we can do until we reach a point in our world where consideration of one's race no longer burdens us.  There is no question who bears the responsibility for electing office-holders.  However, I must raise a concern when I feel that an opportunity for advancement of African-Americans has been squandered.

Like the TN Senate race, for example.

Don- I just meant I like Cohen, for the most part. I think he's pretty straightforward for a politician, and yes, he's a liberal on social issues, and moreso than his predecessor in D9, though I have a lot of respect for him, too.


Joe- I don't really believe Harold Ford Jr. lost because of his race. Of course in a really close race, one could find at least 25 different reasons someone lost a race. I, for one, think Ford lost more for his marital status than his race. I pretty much think that the vast majority of people voting in TN wouldn't vote Dem at all if they really thought a black person shouldn't be a Senator.

Though it certainly was an opportunity for an African American to advance. It's a Republican state. Aside from Bredesen, no other Democrat has come as close to winning a statewide race in TN since Al Gore was our Senator.

My post was purely a dig at Don's "concern" that an opportunity to elect a black person was missed, by using the example of a situation in which he would never have supported said black person anyway.

Out of curiosity, does that statistic include outgoing Maryland Lt. Governor Michael Steele?

Well Keith Ellison won a majority-white district, so that cancels it out.

I'd trade you Ellison for Cohen btw. Would you like that?

Yes they do, in Phila, and they loose.

I've met Senator Washington, and know some of her supporters.  I actually have a favorable impression of her.

No - it includes two officials in Texas (Railroad Commissioner Williams and the Supreme Court Chief Justice)

Now if we can just defeat that jerk Bobby Jindal, it'll be smooth sailing till 2008.

There is only one logical choice to the GOP in this dilemma:

Keep trying to win black voters, even when/if their share of the GOP vote is 10-15% in a good election.

After all, polling 15% instead of 10% of Black voters in a national election is just as much of an improvent as polling 52% instead of 51.2% of White voters is.

...

Except it's probably harder to do, especially without loss of non-Black vote.

In this case, it's not so much the absolute share of the vote gained (yes, it is marginal), but a matter of principle to demonstrate that the GOP is not off-limits to an entire race, even if the marginal cost per vote, as dazzleman stated, is steep.

I agree with that only to the extent that GOP coolness towards black voters doesn't become an open secret, or worse, a "successful" Democrat attack ad aimed at moderate white voters. And whites, in general, are less antagonistic (if not supportive) toward blacks now than they were in 1980.

Practically speaking, I would favor an outreach two or three degrees warmer than utter tokenism (e.g. a Republican president nominating a inner-city Negroid for HUD secretary).

Furthermore, it's not at all certain the the GOP will be any better at attracting soon-to-be Hispanic voters, although in most cases, Hispanics don't actively hate the party in the way middle-aged blacks voters do.

...and yet I'm pretty sure Reagan did a good deal better among Black voters than Dole did.

I'm not sure how much the GOP would alienate non-racist white conservative voters by trying to appeal towards blacks. While the economic differences may be strong, many black voters are religious and socially conservative, something that is shared with white Republicans.

I'm not denying that we have a significant racial problem in our society. But of course there are gulfs between urban and rural whites, poor whites and rich whites, liberal whites and conservative whites, etc.

The racial divide won't decrease unless/until people start identifying by their values/lifestyle/goals instead of the race of their ancestors.

I don't think it's fair to blame blacks' voting patterns for the racial divide in our country, as you seem to imply in your last paragraph. Ultimately, members of both races would need to make amends in order to decrease the racial divide. For example, if the Republican party became more moderate, you'd see more blacks voting GOP.

He was probably the last President to benefit from older black voters still being loyal Republicans, a remnant of the pre-FDR days.

I'll never forget Condoleeza Rice's speech to the GOP convention in 2000. She said her father registered as a Republican voter (in Alabama in 1952) because the Democrats (i.e. segregationists) wouldn't allow him in their party. I never took her seriously after that idiotic statement.

Reagan was actually quite unpopular amongst blacks.  He won only 6% of African Americans in 1984, which probably explains why he won 59% of the vote rather than 61% like Nixon did in 1972 - and Nixon won a surprising amount of black voters.  George Bush in 1988 was credited with doubling African American support for the GOP, he won 12% - double Reagan's total in 1984. 

Arent you forgetting that the Democrats are the ones that supported keeping slavery legal.  If the Republicans hadnt come around, slavery would have continued for many years after that.

Yeah, Reagan was known for alienating black voters.

Hm, I never knew that. (Although when he died, and the media was full of how great and beloved a president he'd been and there were people queuing three times around the block to see his cadaver, some German journalist noted only two Blacks in said queue in a 60%+ Black city, and spoke with both of them. :) )

More like the other way around.

I remember going around on Politics1 once and saw this guy. I thought to myself, "There are blacks in Vermont..and they hold office?"

Reagan courted the votes of Southern whites. That alienates black voters. Once one compares Reagan's share of the black vote with his share of the white vote (or the general) it's a stark contrast, even for a Republican.