Black Turnout Strong In Early Voting

African-Americans Surging To Cast Ballots Early Across Southern States

(CBS/AP)  Blacks are already surging to the polls in parts of the South, according to initial figures from states that encourage early voting - a striking though still preliminary sign of how strongly they will turn out nationwide for Barack Obama in his campaign to become the first African-American president.

According to a CBS News/New York Times national poll released Thursday, Obama holds a 13-point lead over rival John McCain - a 52 percent to 39 percent advantage.

There have been predictions all year of a record black turnout for Obama. The first actual figures suggest that wasn't just talk:

In North Carolina, blacks make up 31 percent of early voters so far, even though they're just 21 percent of the population and made up only 19 percent of state's overall 2004 vote.

Roughly 36 percent of the early voters are black in Georgia, outpacing their 30 percent proportion of the state's population and their 25 percent share of the 2004 vote.

No one but the voters can be sure how they voted. And John McCain's campaign officials note that the Obama camp has put much more effort than they have into early voting. But the numbers are still notable.

Democrats are outvoting the GOP by a margin of 2.5-to-1 in North Carolina, where early voting has been under way for a week. That's roughly double the margin from 2004.

More than 210,000 blacks who are registered as Democrats have cast early ballots in the Tar Heel State - compared with roughly 174,000 registered Republicans overall. Four years ago, the number of GOP early and absentee voters was more than double that of black Democrats.

"It's a sign about how energized African-Americans are about this election," says David Bositis, who tracks black voting trends at the Washington-based Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies.

In Louisiana, more than 31 percent of the early voters are black, and Democrats are topping Republicans nearly 2-to-1. In the crucial battleground state of Florida, nearly 55 percent of early voters are registered Democrats - well above their 41 percent share of the electorate in the Sunshine State.

Virginia, another Southern state that usually votes Republican - but where Obama is doing well in opinion polls - does not track voter registrations by race or party. But some of the largest increases in registrations this year were in Democratic-leaning cities with large minority populations.

Absentee voting - as the name suggests - was originally designed for people who couldn't make it to the polls on Election Day. But this year, more than 30 states allow any registered voter to cast an early ballot, and many election officials are encouraging voters to do so to ease the strain on Nov. 4. About a third of voters nationwide are expected to cast their ballots before Election Day

Obama's campaign has focused heavily on turning out those voters, using advertising and campaign events. That's the message the Illinois senator brought to North Carolina during his last stop, when he addressed a predominantly black crowd in Fayetteville.

"We want to get as many votes in as possible as early as possible," he said.

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Read the latest CBS News/New York Times poll on the presidential election

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Louise Boyd, a 61-year-old Charlotte retiree, voted early this year and then returned to wait in line two days later with her sister, Nyata Frazier. Boyd, who is black, said she expected a very large turnout from watching rallies and noting the historic nature of voting for a black presidential candidate.

"I had a little more pride," she said. "It shows how vastly the U.S. has changed."

The surge in black voters follows a similar trend this year in voter registration. In the five states that track voter registration by race, blacks signed up to vote at twice the rate of whites in the six months through September.

The question then was would those newly registered voters turn out to vote, and now there are signs that they will. In Georgia, 230,000 more people have cast early ballots than voted absentee in 2004.

Many of those early voters have come from metro Atlanta counties, including heavily Democratic Fulton and DeKalb.

In Marietta, just north of Atlanta, poll workers were warning arriving voters of waits up to four hours on Thursday. Many were not deterred.

"Take off work, get in line and just expect a long wait," said Kristy White, 30. "Bring a book if you have to."

Georgia election officials expect 1.4 million people to vote early this year - more than double the total from four years ago.

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"Only On The Web:" Analyzing the Bradley Effect in this year's election.

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It's the same in North Carolina, where State Board of Elections Director Gary Bartlett said two months ago he told senior staff members that mail-in and in-person early voting could reach 2 million ballots. Bartlett said his colleagues thought he was a little crazy.

But based on results so far - more than 735,000 people had voted early as of early Thursday - "it looks like that we're going to be pretty close to that."

"We're seeing historic numbers with a historic election year," Bartlett said. "I'm very proud to be a part of that historical process."

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 requires several Southern states to report racial breakdowns among voters, an effort designed to prevent discrimination. But North Carolina, Georgia and Louisiana are the only ones reporting that information as early voting is proceeding.

"We believe in transparency," Bartlett said.

North Carolina has long had more registered Democrats than Republicans but hasn't voted for a Democratic presidential candidate since 1976. President Bush won the state by 12 percentage points four years ago. Bush beat John Kerry by 17 points in Georgia, a state that last voted Democratic in 1992.

This year's trends are daunting for McCain, the Republican nominee. Polls out this week favor Obama in both North Carolina and Florida.

Last year, Obama said his place on the Democratic ticket would boost African-American turnout by 30 percent - potentially opening up Southern states that his party hadn't won in more than a generation. But Obama campaign officials now play down the prospect that his place as the first black to top a major party ticket would sway enough voters to win the presidency.

"I don't think we should talk only about race. There are so many other factors - age, geography," said spokeswoman Caroline Adelman. "This campaign's not about race, it's about bringing people together."

Republicans also caution it would be a mistake to read too much into the early totals. McCain spokesman Mario Diaz said the GOP will benefit from high turnout on Election Day, and he noted the party has focused less on early voting than Obama.

"We anticipate the support to only intensify by Election Day," he said.

[jsjcvg]

And Joey777, how do YOU know that?

[joey7776]

Reverend Wright sucks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[drsuz]

Almost anybody could spend your money better than you do. You are a pathetic kook who has too much time on your hands.
Posted by fsw3

Well if Congress passes the new bill they are trying to push thru, he will not have to worry abut having any control of his 401K. Other medias are just coming out with it..Congress is trying to pass a bill which would give them control of our 401K''s.

[jsjcvg]

doctor(not so)--cool I think you meant to write "Let''s" start over...not "Less". But then again, perhaps it was a Freudian slip...as your convoluted "voodoo economics" theory will mean LESS for the middle class,and more for the wealthiest Americans and corporations, including those that move to foreign countries to escape taxes AND pay exploited workers $2.00(or less) an hour, while leaving the American former workers collecting unemployment. Who really can be against free health care for all Americans? Only the greedy and the selfish,...especially the insurance companies.

[jsjcvg]

I''m voting Democrat, and praying for an Obama win, so that the Black World War II soldiers I know that had to watch German POWS eating with the white US soldiers, while they waited to eat at separate tables, will know that their service was not in vain.
Yes, this country can rise above its legacy of racial hatred and division. Go Democrats...restore respect to the US around the world, bring the troops home from 2-wars that are sequels to Viet Nam, create more jobs in America, focus on all children getting a good education and being in a stable home (even if that''s not with their parents) to help the break cycle of poverty and violence that occurs in too many low-income neighborhoods. (Low income does not have to mean low-class, just like high income does not mean high class...Wall Street Thieves for instance.)

[drsuz]

doctor--cool..

I am voting for the candidate who believes the ACLU is a secret terriorist orgainization. Think about it. They believe that criminals should have more rights than law abiding citizens or their victims...

I am also voting for the candiate who is a firm believer in the death penalty (which person should be excuted shortly after he/she is sentenced) and abolishes appeals when one is found guilty by a jury of his peers.

[jsjcvg]

When the journalist informed them that indeed the people knew, they expressed shock and then sadness. The journalist himself was shocked when the villagers told him the next morning that several of them would accompany him back to New York so that they could build a house for the homeless man. They were sure they could find the man if the journalist would take them to the building in the picture. The journalist then, in a village where there is no such thing as homelessness, tried to expalin the concept to them, and the fact that ther were millions more like this man in the U.S. And what exactly is wrong with socialism? Does it make sense that in the world''s alleged greatest nation, there are homeless people...and hungry children...the majority of which are this way through no fault of their own...domestic violence, lack of education, no job skills, mental illness?

[jsjcvg]

Pt.1
I agree with the posters who refer to us sending resources to help other countries, when so many in our own country need help. That is likely what Obama is referring to when he says, "Let''s put Main Street, before Wall Steet." The Republican trickle-down theory, only means that those at the bottom will continue to get peed on. Nothing new about that, McCain.

A couple of years ago, I read in National Geographic about an American journalist from New York, who with his wife, went on assignment to live for a short while in a small village in the South Pacific ---(I am not being intentionally vague. I just don''t remember where it was, but can look the story up to dispel doubt...or worst, cynicism) The village residents asked the journalist questions about where he lived and he showed them photos of New York City. In one of the photos there was a homeless man sitting in front of an office building, and pedestrians going to and fro. They asked the journalist if the building was the man''s house. He told them no, that the man was "homeless". They asked if the people walking by knew that the man was homeless.

[drsuz]

I''''m voting Democrat because I believe that MORE Government regulations and higher taxes on Business will stop Business from exporting their jobs to Countries with LESS Government regulations and lower taxes.
Posted by doctor--cool

So hopefully you are also voting out of office those Reps and Senators who have allowed this to happen the last eight years. It was not just the Prez. If it is ''change'' people want, they also have to ''change'' who represents then in the House and Senate. And remember it was under the Clinton Administration all them rules/laws were set up so that those companies could do such a thing. We need people in those positions to admend those laws.

[mspiff]

WAKE UP CALL: Do you all know that Obama wants another African American to replace him in the Seante if he wins the Presidency? This was in a small article in the Chicago Sun-Times two days ago. I don''t know how much is reported by the liberal media. We in Chicago get just a little bit more. Not much more. So, he''s for EVERYBODY? Why not request a "qualifed" senator? But NO, he wants an African American. He also supported Todd Stoger, who raised Cook County''s taxes to over 10%. People . . . .wake up and smell the coffee!

[drsuz]

Also on the site I mentioned dated October 15, 2008

Accusing API of colluding with American internet bloggers in an effort to bring down her husband, Mrs Obama said she decided to call API because of what she termed, API%u2019s help to spread rumours created by American bloggers and other racist media outlets in their efforts to damage a black man%u2019s name, saying she hopes African Media was mature enough to be in the front to give unwavering support to her husband, a man Africans should identify themselves with.

When API told her that our online news media was only relaying what the American Bloggers and other media outlets had discovered through their investigations, Mrs Obama was angered and she came out loud with the following: %u201CAfrican press International is supposed to support Africans and African-American view,%u201D and she went to state that, %u201Cit is strange that API has chosen to support the racists against my husband. My husband and I know that there is no law that will stop him from becoming the president, just because some American white racists are bringing up the issue of my husband%u2019s adoption by His step father.

When asked who she was referring to as the evil people, she stated that she was not going to elaborate much on that but that many conservative white people and even some African Americans were against her husband, but that this group of blacks were simply doing so because of envy.

And THIS is what voters want for a First lady???

[drsuz]

Attack Obama, but do it on issues not on falsehoods, speculations and propagandas
Posted by Talaan77 at 03:15 PM : Oct 24, 2008

Well this is not falsehood..
African Press International (API) October 24, 2008
Lawsuits Starting Across the Nation Proceeding to Avert Potential Constitutional Crisis, Possible Civil Unrest, and Confidence in Elections; Lawsuits are being filed in Eight States Seeking to Require Barack Obama to Provide Certification of Birth in U.S. Or Be Removed as Presidential Candidate on State Ballots. Seattle WA. 10/22/2008 %u2014 Lawsuits in eight states as of this writing%u2013 Hawaii, Washington, California, Florida, Georgia. Pennsylvania, New York and Connecticut, are seeking judicial authority to force the certifying or decertifying of Senator Barack Obama%u2019s qualification to run as a candidate for President as a natural born U.S. Citizen. Previously, two lawsuits have failed to force the certifying documents from Obama.

[talaan77]

What is the reason for his support among whites?

[talaan77]

"Attack Obama, but do it on issues not on falsehoods, speculations and propagand - talaan77





Obama could be a accused mass-murder, and the black population would vote for him anyway for pride purposes.




Come to think of it, I''''d rather he were a mass-murderer than a Socialist, at least then he could be impeached in two years when the House goes Republican.


Posted by Speakinup21

I guess that''s what you think about blacks, their pride goes before common sence. During the primaries, untill she started to get really negative Hillary had more support than Obama

[talaan77]

Attack Obama, but do it on issues not on falsehoods, speculations and propagandas

[talaan77]

Berg is reaching, and so is everyone else that insist on making this an issue, which is not much people, not even the media that endorses McCain.

[talaan77]

That is why Berg had to refile and name the Federal Elections Committee as a co-defendant for failure to verify the applicants. And if you feel the government is not so incompetent, then why is this country in such a mess and people are raggin on Bush?

Posted by DrSuz

Bush is incompetent, and there are areas of the government that needs help. But this is not all up to Bush. Except for people on blogs and Mr. Berg no one, ot even the Republicans are even acknowledging this whole story, does that not say anything.

[talaan77]

Posted by DrSuz Most of what I have heard Obama say is geared towards the middle class in America, and helping those less fortunate here. That was what is work in Chicago was about. But what is wrong with helping global poverty, as long as it does not take priority over American poverty

[drsuz]

I have done the math, and the result I got is that the constitution forbids someone who is not a natural citizen from running. So if it were a real issue he would not be able to run at all. The government is not so incompetent to let that happen
Posted by Talaan77 at 02:55 PM : Oct 24, 2008

That is why Berg had to refile and name the Federal Elections Committee as a co-defendant for failure to verify the applicants. And if you feel the government is not so incompetent, then why is this country in such a mess and people are raggin on Bush?

[drsuz]

StopSocialis..
You also failed to mention that Berg was the former head of the Montgomery County, Pennsylvania Democratic Party and a former member of the Democratic State Convention in Pennsylvania.