Jim Crow Survivor Casts First Vote for Obama

By GottaLaff

Tears:

In his 103 years, Ernest Smith says, he never drank, smoked or voted. Though he’s yet to sample tobacco or alcohol, on Thursday, Smith cast his first ballot —- for Democratic nominee Barack Obama.

“I voted, and I want to vote again,” said Smith, a testament to clean living. “It felt good.” [...]

Born in 1905 in Pembroke, N.C., Smith lived most of his life there and was first eligible to vote in 1928 —- then the voting age was 21.

But for African-Americans like Smith, suffrage was far from universal. Literacy tests and poll taxes were enacted through much of the Jim Crow South to suppress black turnout.

Had Smith attempted to vote in 1928 —- he says he never tried to register —- his choices would have been Herbert Hoover, campaigning as a Republican maverick, and Democrat Al Smith who, like Obama, was a historic nominee. [...]

Ernest Smith is confident that this year, he’s backing a winner.

“We’ll make it, thank the Lord,” said Smith, bolting up from his rocking chair, clapping. A snapshot of Obama sits on his dresser.

The retired railroad worker plans on being around for the next presidential election, in 2012, to vote for Obama a second time.

“I wish I had done it before,” Smith said. When he was young, he added, “we never thought about voting.” [...]

He was reluctant at first.

“We told him he had to go vote,” joked Robert Elliott, 64, Clara’s husband. After Smith cast his ballot in last week’s advance voting in DeKalb County, “he couldn’t stop talking about it.”

“I had tears rolling down my eyes,” Clara Elliott said. “It makes you think about how far we’ve come.”

Smith won’t be the only member of his family to vote for the first time this year.

Step-granddaughter Chiquetta Route said nothing will keep her from voting Tuesday.

“It made me want to vote even more,” said Route, 26. “On Tuesday I’m getting up at 4 a.m. [and] dropping the kids off, and I’m going to stand in line as long as it takes.”

That night, Ernest Smith will be watching the returns on TV. He’s normally in bed by 9 p.m., but he’s determined not to miss out on history.

“Just like the old tent revivals,” he said when a visitor asked if he’d be able to stay up late. “We’d go all night with no sitting down.”

Mr. Smith GObamas to Washington.

H/t: One of our Anonymi

Pat Buchanan jokes about suppressing black vote

Happy birthday you old racist you!!

Obama Can "Decisively" Win Without Majority of White Voters

By GottaLaff

Ohhhh I just lo-o-o-ve when they say "decisively":

Political scientist Alan Abramowitz notes that even though white voters are expected to make up 80% of the electorate in November and that five recent national polls show Sen. Barack Obama trailing Sen. John McCain by nine points among this group, he would still "decisively win" the election.

The reason? Obama holds a 20-1 margin among black voters and a 2-1 margin among Hispanic voters.

And what a swell reason that is! Okay, who's up for a snippet of trivia? Bucky? Clancy? Eve? Adrienne? Mainy?

Interesting trivia: The last Democratic presidential candidate to win a majority of the white voters was Lyndon Johnson in 1964.

Not only was it trivia, it was "interesting" trivia. We accept nothing less here at The Political Carnival.

Obama predicts huge increase in black voters in Republican Southern states

By GottaLaff

GObama!

[A]n Associated Press analysis of U.S. Census and voting data from the past four presidential elections shows a potentially dramatic impact should Obama fulfill his pledge to elevate black participation by 30 percent.

That would add nearly 1.8 million votes in 11 Southern states, the analysis shows, enough to tip the balance in several that have been Republican strongholds.

Besides the likely increase in black turnout, the Illinois senator also expects a surge of young voters to help him compete in states that have been reliably red since the once solidly Democratic South flipped to the Republicans in 1964.

Fingers, toes, legs, arms, eyes all crossed.

"I can tell you that North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Alabama will be in play," asserts North Carolina Democratic Rep. G.K. Butterfield, an Obama adviser. "We're looking strongly at Tennessee and Mississippi."

Obama:

"I guarantee you African-American turnout, if I'm the nominee, goes up 30 percent around the country, minimum," he 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."

Yeah, yeah, but does the math back up your analysis?

The math backs up his analysis - if he can deliver the turnout he promises.

Tom Schaller, a University of Maryland political science professor:

"I'll believe a 30 percent increase in the black vote when I see it," Schaller said. "If Obama does it, he will have proved to doubters like me that his organizing skills in Chicago coupled with his vision and charisma are truly transformative. It'll be a thumping on Nov. 4."

Obama's advisers admit they have a distance to go.

Then here's hopes that they go the distance.