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Thursday, February 7, 2008
Super Tuesday results reflects South’s sea change
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Robbie S. Moore awoke Wednesday to what she considers the New South.
Her new outlook stems from Super Tuesday, particularly the support Gwinnett gave Barack Obama, the Democrat running to be president. He tallied 68 percent of the votes cast. That’s 46,890 votes out of the overall number of 68,832 Democratic cards cast, according to the county Web site. By comparison, Hillary Clinton, the Democratic front-runner, mustered 30 percent, or 20,703 votes.
“His [victory margin] was more than I imagined,” said Moore, president of the United Ebony Society, a civil rights group. “People are pulling together, not just looking at color. They want the whole country to benefit. People are seeing the need to look beyond black and white. They are looking for higher ground.”
Race and politics are forever intertwined, not just in the South, but across the nation. But Moore and others say local primary results convincingly show the South’s political landscape may be shifting. (Obama captured Alabama and Georgia. To his credit, Obama has downplayed race as a campaign issue.)
Gwinnett’s electorate is mostly white. Today, 70 percent of Gwinnett’s active voters are white; a decade ago, 93 percent were. While the minority voter pool is growing, it remains small. Blacks, for example, account for 17 percent of the electorate. Even if it were higher, you can’t assume most of them are Obama supporters.
So white voters had to have supported Obama, and in significant numbers. Lynn Ledford, the county elections supervisor, thinks that’s the case.
“We’ve heard the grumbling,” Ledford said. “People are very dissatisfied with the Republican Party right now, and that crosses racial and ethnic lines. And that’s the way it should be. You should never vote for someone because of their color, or their sex or age. You shouldn’t vote against someone because of those things, either.”
In Gwinnett, Super Tuesday’s turnout set a record - 46 percent of the 328,132 registered voters took part. Before Super Tuesday, the highest turnout was back in 1988, when 39 percent participated.
Initially, Ledford had predicted 82 percent of the voters would turn out for the presidential election in November. She has since adjusted her estimate, given Tuesday’s turnout and overall public interest.
“We may even hit the 90 percent mark,” she said. “As election administrators, we are very excited.’
There’s still much ground to cover before we elect a president on Nov. 4. The Democratic National Convention takes place in August in Denver. A month later, the Republicans host their convention in St. Paul, Minn. It’s a toss-up whom we’ll call president.
Whatever the case, “it’s all amazing, and exciting,” Moore said.
Rick Badie will resume his community tour next week. His column appears on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. Contact him at 770-263-3875 or e-mail: rbadie@ajc.com.
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