INDIANAPOLIS --Some black voters are making it very
clear: They're concerned that Barack Obama is going
to be denied the Democratic presidential nomination
that they see as rightfully his, and if that happens, a lot
of them may stay home in November.
"It would hurt me not to vote," said Charles Clark, an
Indianapolis retiree. He's thinking about leaving the
presidential box on his ballot blank if Hillary Clinton is
the Democrats' nominee.
"There was a heck of a push made so blacks could
vote. I know that," he said. "But it would also be very
unfair if they pushed Barack Obama to the side."
Michelle Moore, an Indianapolis homemaker, is less
gentle: "Hillary Clinton would not even still be in the
race if Obama was a white man," she said.
Her tough tone was common this week in this city's
black community. Why, people asked, is the Illinois
senator's relationship with the Rev. Jeremiah Wright
being judged so harshly? Why won't Democratic Party
officials acknowledge that Obama's in the lead and
unite around him?
African Americans have been the Democratic Party's
most reliable bloc, giving about 90 percent of their
votes to former Vice President Al Gore and Sen. John
Kerry, D-Mass., in the last two presidential elections.
In a close election this year, an African American
exodus from the voting booth could be costly to
Democrats, particularly in the South, where blacks are
a large proportion of the electorate.
If Obama isn't the nominee, "there would be a
significant number of African Americans who would
stay home. They're not voting for (presumptive
Republican nominee) John McCain," predicted David
Bositis, a senior analyst at the Joint Center for
Political and Economic Studies, which researches
black voting trends.
