So far, there has not been an endorsement for either Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama for February 5 which is known as “Super Tuesday” by The People’s Voice African-American Weekly News which is located in Roanoke, Alabama. It has come to the frustration of Charlotte A. Clark-Frieson, the publisher who is an Obama supporter.
“I’m trying to get ready to endorse him, but my board is so split,” she had explained.
The paper is unanimously in favor of Barack Obama. However, the older of Alabama’s two black political organizations, the Alabama Democratic Conference had endorsed Clinton back in October.
To add to the tension, the board members of the newspaper have even refused to discuss it in private. The competition for the black vote in the south is very fierce as it is anticipated that between 20 to 50 percent of the voters at the South Carolina Democratic primary on January are expected to be black.
The same goes for Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, and Tennessee which are four of the southern states with primaries on February 5. So far, registration of black voters have spiked when Obama had won the Iowa caucuses.
For the last few weeks, the issue of race had dominated the Democratic races which prompted a volley of angry words between the respective camps of Obama and Clinton.
This election can prove that the Southern blacks will not be a monolithic voting bloc.
Longtime allies in the civil rights movement have also been split between Obama and Clinton. Reverend Joseph E. Lowery has given his support to Barack Obama while Representative John Lewis has come to Clinton’s side.
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