African-Americans Nowhere to Be Found in Romney’s Orbit

[babylonsister]

African-Americans Nowhere to Be Found in Romney’s Orbit
by Harry Siegel, Ben Jacobs Apr 11, 2012 4:45 AM EDT
Mitt Romney begins his contest with Barack Obama having attracted no notable black supporters or high-ranking campaign staffers.


After a long primary season, Mitt Romney begins his contest with Barack Obama without having attracted any notable black endorsers, surrogates, or high-ranking campaign staffers.

So far, Romney’s highest-profile endorsement from a black supporter might be Aubrey Fenton, a former Burlington County New Jersey freeholder, and there are no African-Americans in the top ranks of the campaign. The two black Republicans in Congress, Tim Scott and Allan West, still haven’t endorsed the party’s nominee-apparent. The Romney campaign, which often touts its support from Hispanics, women, and other groups, did not provide any information about black supporters or staffers in response to several requests from The Daily Beast.

Romney, running against the first black president, has no chance of winning most African-American voters. But neglecting to court them at all sends the wrong message to swing voters, said political players and observers. Romney’s problem, they said, isn’t that blacks aren’t buying his message but that he hasn’t bothered to sell it to them.

Democratic consultants compared Romney's outreach unfavorably with George W. Bush’s efforts. Tad Devine recalled Bush’s 2000 campaign, which “conspicuously did a lot of outreach to the African-American community. Even thought it didn’t affect the numbers,” he said, “it did have a very favorable impact on the campaign,” allowing Bush “to portray himself as more moderate—a conservative, but a compassionate conservative.” But Romney, said Devine, has offered “no outreach, no presence in his advertising, {save} a couple of frames in his very first ads.” Steve McMahon, a Democrat consultant, said that “in a close election, this can be the difference between winning and losing,” pointing to George W. Bush’s 2004 margin of victory in Ohio, where he clinched a second term by upping his support among the state's African-American voters by just 5 percentage points.

Politicos of all ideological bents stressed that Romney was in no way prejudiced against African-Americans, but also agreed that his campaign had paid little attention to the group. As Lee Siegel memorably described the candidate who once tried to appeal to a group of black kids at a Martin Luther King Jr. Day parade by singing the refrain of “Who Let the Dogs Out,” "Mitt Romney is the whitest white man to run for president in recent memory."

more...

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/04/11/african-americans-nowhere-to-be-found-in-romney-s-orbit.html

[izquierdista]

1. Have you checked beyond Pluto??

Sometimes you have to spend months going over those frames, night after night, until you see the slightest movement in one of the undistinguishable fuzzy blobs in the background.

[Cirque du So-What]

2. I wouldn't even bother looking there

All those exoplanets and asteroids are probably already occupied by ascended devout Mormons who have gained gawdhood and dominion over them. They probably ascended during the period when blacks were considered the 'seed of Cain,' so they fall under the 'grandfather clause' and aren't too keen on 'newcomers' moving into their neighborhood.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

3. Isn't Herman Cain backing him?

not that his opinion should matter much anyway.

[RFKHumphreyObama]

4. I believe Herman endorsed Gingrich