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Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Would you vote for Mississippian?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
As expected, Barack Obama won Mississippi’s Democratic primary on Tuesday. But the Associated Press wire service notes that it was “one of the most racially divided of all the party’s contests this year.”
Nine of 10 blacks voted for Obama; seven of 10 whites voted for Hillary Clinton. Obama won with 59 percent to Hillary’s 39 because turnout was about 50-50 black-white. “Racial polarization was stark,” opined the AP. “Only in two other states have seven in 10 whites back Clinton, and both were in the South,” in Alabama and Arkansas.
About 40 percent of blacks said race was important in making the choice and 90 percent of those voted for Obama. About 25 percent of whites said the same thing and 90 of those voted for Clinton.
Clinton did well among both white men and women — she’s previously had trouble attracting men — while running strong among whites who are independents, college graduates or earn at least $50,000 a year.
The AP’s data came from interviews at 35 polling places across Mississippi. The sampling was done for the wire service and television networks by Edison Media Research and Mitofsky International.
Hillary, meanwhile, said she regretted remarks last week by the Democrats’ 1984 vice presidential candidate, Geraldine Ferraro, who told the Daily Breeze of Torrance, Calif. that “If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position. And if he was a woman (of any color) he would not be in this position. He happens to be very lucky to be who he is. And the country is caught up in the concept.”
Said Hillary: “I do not agree with that.” Obama called Ferraro’s comments absurd and divisive.
Ferraro didn’t back down. “I have to tell you that what I find is offensive is that every time somebody says something about the campaign, you’re accused of being racist,” she said later on Fox.
She said she was chosen as Walter Mondale’s running mate because of gender. Had her name been “Gerard Ferraro,” she wouldn’t have been on the ticket, she said.
Whether Mississippians are more race-conscious in their decision-making is a matter of conjecture. But I have no doubt that in national politics it’s a liability to be from Mississippi, especially if you’re a white conservative.
Haley Barbour, Mississippi’s Republican governor, would be a strong contender as John McCain’s running mate but for one fact: He’s from Mississippi. Anytime anybody’s writing or talking about the state phrases like “racially divided” and “stark polarization” creep out.
Ferraro thinks a “very sexist media” prefers a man to a woman — Obama to Hillary.
The questions to be explored today: Would you vote for a conservative from Mississippi? Is the media “very sexist”? And would Obama be in this position if he were a white man or a woman of any color?
