Monday, March 31, 2008

CAN MCCAIN WIN BLACK VOTE?

Folks:

I have posted about Day Two of Sen. McCain’s town hall event today on JohnMcCain.com:

http://www.johnmccain.com/Blog/Read.aspx?guid=81ffd3f8-a0bf-4de3-8599-02f165c2ab48

Check it out, and if you are inclined to link, we sure would appreciate it.

Patrick Hynes


Note: If you'd like to get excellent updates from the McCain Campaign, you can do so by e-mailing Patrick at: phynes@calypsocom.com.


Can McCain Win the Black Vote? The short answer is that he can't win a majority of the Black vote -- in any state -- but we can do a lot better than Republicans have in the past. In the past generation, Republican presidential candidates have won only about 10% of the Black vote.

What if McCain can win 20%-plus of the Black vote in battleground states like Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Ohio, and Michigan? Then he would win the electoral votes in all of them. It's that important.There's some evidence that McCain will do better in Black communities than any Republican since Richard Nixon in 1960 (who won 32% of the Black vote in his race against John F. Kennedy). Frankly, McCain has more in common with most Blacks who vote than either Caucasian Hillary Clinton or mixed-race Barack Obama.

McCain says he will campaign in all 50 states (although he probably won't campaign much in states like Rhode Island and Vermont). He definitely should campaign (some, not constantly) in cities like Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Columbus, and even Cleveland, which John Kerry famously visited 41 times in 2004.

In Philadelphia, McCain should bring in Rudy Giuliani and other Italian-Americans to campaign in the "Cheese Steak Area," South Philly. In the Black areas of North Philly, McCain should campaign with Lynn Swann, an NFL Hall-of-Famer and Republican gubernatorial candidate in 2006.

McCain also needs to involve Black veterans (tens of thousands in the Philly area) and Black ministers who hold traditional Christian views. Frankly, the Democrats have nothing to offer middle-class Black citizens.McCain needs to hit Obama hard on issues like education, where Obama has no real plan to improve the awful Philly schools.

Because of the terrible murder and robbery statistics in Philly and Pittsburgh, McCain needs to come up with tough plans for reducing crime.

In short, McCain shouldn't concede 90% of the Pennsylvania Black vote to Obama. He needs to hammer home how Democratic leadership has failed the people of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. Black Pennsylvanians -- like their white counterparts -- should be willing to consider --and vote for -- an authentic American hero, which they have in John McCain.

2 comments:

pathickey said...

Steve,

Right here on the south side of Chicago, Marquis Ball of St. Xavier University has been working with me in the heavily Democratic 19th Ward.

Ball's friend and fellow Leo High School Alumnus Thomas Hayes is an alternate Delegate ( McCain) from Chicago's 1st Congressional District.

Thomas Hayes is a professional boxer (Hwt. 27-1) and a candidate for the Chicago Police Department with a younger brother serving in Iraq. Thomas told me, 'John McCain is the only candidate who can lead our troops and bring my brother home with Honor!'

That is only two young black Amricans in their early 20s, who are solidly behind John McCain.

Stephen R. Maloney said...

Dear Pat: Thanks so much for visiting. I'm white but also a member of the Black Conservatives Group. I hope you and your friends will look up two sites: http://ubrc.org/index.html, the United Black Republican Coalition and the National Black Republican Association, http://nbra.info/ Both of them can offer support for your efforts. Frances Reed, the woman who head the NBRA, is a veteran of the Air Force. Illinois will be hard to win (for obvious reasons) in 2008, but that doesn't mean it's NOT winnable. I hope you pin Rezko and Cook County corruption like a can to Obama's "tail." As I suggest, Obama will do nothing to improve Cicago schools, other than paying off his union supporters. I think it's critical to confront Black voters with results of two generations of Democratic rule. High crime, high unemploymnent, and a moutain of misery ase what the Dems have provided. McCain's character and heroism should appeal to Black voters just as they do to White ones.

There are roughly 150,000 Black veterans in Chicago, and most of them will support McCain.

Bush got 45% of the Illinois vote in 2004, and McCain will do better (perhaps enough to win) in 2008. If McCain can get 200,000 more Black votes, he will win Illinois. The work you and your friends are doing is critical.

Pat, please stay in touch. And give my best to Marquis Ball and Thomas Hayes. They're the future of a large segment of America.