Obama says he can turn out Black voters

By NEDRA PICKLER, Associated Press Writer
Mon Aug 20, 9:16 PM ET

CONCORD, N.H. – Barack Obama predicted that black voter turnout would swell by at least 30 percent if he wins the presidential nomination, giving Democrats victory in Southern states that have been voting Republican for decades.

“I’m probably the only candidate who having won the nomination can actually redraw the political map,” Obama told a Democratic voter skeptical that he could defeat a Republican candidate.

“I guarantee you African-American turnout, if I’m the nominee, goes up 30 percent around the country, minimum,” Obama said. “Young people’s percentage of the vote goes up 25-30 percent. So we’re in a position to put states in play that haven’t been in play since LBJ.”

Lyndon Baines Johnson ran for president in 1964 and won in a landslide. But since then the South has turned into a Republican stronghold.

Obama’s comment came in response to former New Hampshire state Rep. Carol Moore, who told him the candidate to get her vote will be the one she feels has the best chance of winning in the general election because she’s so scared another Republican will replace President Bush. She asked Obama what made him think he could win. Another voter later told Obama because of his lack of experience, “by any stretch of the imagination, it would be a leap of faith to vote for you.”

Obama often rejects the politics of “who’s up, who’s down,” but he showed he was following the polls. He said he fares best among independent voters, that he has lower negative ratings than his Democratic rivals and is leading Republicans Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney and Fred Thompson in head-to-head matchups.

“I would include McCain, but John’s having trouble right now, so that’s not that big of a feat,” Obama said of the Republican senator from Arizona, drawing laughter at the packed house party in the state capital attended by about 70 people.

Obama noted that in Mississippi, blacks make up more than a third of the state’s population, but make up a smaller share of the electorate.

“If we just got African-Americans in Mississippi to vote their percentage of the population, Mississippi is suddenly a Democratic state,” Obama said. He said Georgia would also turn Democratic and South Carolina would be in play.

Let me say that I believe this is a response by Obama to the latest column by Robert Novak entitled: Clinton backers see Warner — not Obama — as best V.P. choice
I see this as nothing but a DLC ploy.

I also say, good for him. I’m glad he’s speaking up positively for himself, and I happen to agree with him. I believe, if he actually runs the table and gets the nomination that Black folk would turn out in unprecedented numbers. So, I’m glad he’s out there showing a little ‘ audacity’….LOL

Not that I think he can win those states, but then again, I’ve said all along, Hillary will never win them either, so it’s a wash. And, if the Democrats had any ‘ audacity’, they would match the nerve of the California Republicans, who are trying to break away some of the electoral vote, by trying to change to proportional apportionment. Instead of whining about the GOP, they should have their own strategy of fighting for this throughout the South. If they just passed it in a few Southern states, with heavy Black populations, it would help the Democrats.

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