Black Middle Class Voters Ignored By Obama's Administration! (Black Agenda Needed!)

Excuse Me!

But Has Anyone Seen The Black Middle Class Lately?

I've Searched High & Low But Haven't Been Able To Locate Them.

Where Are They?

I'll Tell You Where They Are.

Disappearing More & More Each Day!

Is This Our New Reality?

Because Pres. Obama Catered To GOP Leaders For 2 1/2 Years In The Spirit Of "Bi-Partisanship", A Lot Of Things His Administration Could've Done To Help ALL Americans (Black Middle Class Voters Too!) Went Lacking.

He Also Devoted Too Much Of His Time Propping Up Wall Street. i.e., Tax Cuts In The Stimulus Bill & Extending Bush Tax Cuts Last December.

Even Worse Is While Listening To His Chicago Advisers & Friends, Despite Millions Of Black & Hispanic Citizens Experiencing Obvious, Serious Racial Economic Backlash AFTER He Was Elected (By Those SAME Black & Hispanic Voters), Pres. Obama Chose To Stand Firmly On The False Premise Of "No Black Agenda Or No Urban Agenda" Being Necessary!

In His Quest To Prove To GOP Leaders He Wasn't Demonstrating Nepotism Towards Black Voters, NOTHING Or NOTHING MUCH Was Done To Help Blacks & Hispanics (Especially The Black Middle Class)!

And NOTHING Was Done To Stop Large Corporations That Received Huge Tax Cuts & Tax Breaks From The Federal Gov't, From Practicing Blatant Racial Discrimination Against Black & Hispanic Workers Or Job Applicants.

Instead Pres. Obama Just Continued Kissing Up To WHITE GOP Leaders Who Due To Him Having A BLACK Father, Will NEVER Respect Him Regardless Of His White Lineage Or Educational Achievements.

Let's Fast Foward To 2011.

How Have Those White GOP Leaders Repaid Him For All Of That Kissing Up?

Now They're Mocking Him & Intentionally Trying To Sink The U.S. Economy For 2012 Political Gain!

Fortunately For Pres. Obama The Black Community Is Very Forgiving Of Our Black Leaders.

We Will STILL Support Pres. Obama Thereby Providing Him With Another Chance To Prove Himself To Us.

We Can Only Hope That He Doesn't Betray Us Or Throw Us Under The Bus Again In Exchange For Approval From White GOP Leaders.





The disappearing black middle class

Millions of Americans endured financial calamities in the recession. But for many in the black community, job loss has knocked them out of the middle class and back into poverty. And some experts warn of a historic reversal of hard-won economic gains that took black people decades to achieve.

“History is going to say the black middle class was decimated” over the past few years, said Maya Wiley, director of the Center for Social Inclusion. “But we’re not done writing history.”

Adds Algernon Austin, director of the Economic Policy Institute’s Program on Race, Ethnicity and the Economy: “The recession is not over for black folks.”

In 2004, the median net worth of white households was $134,280, compared with $13,450 for black households, according to an analysis of Federal Reserve data by the Economic Policy Institute. By 2009, the median net worth for white households had fallen 24 percent to $97,860; the median net worth for black households had fallen 83 percent to $2,170, according to the institute.

Austin described the wealth gap this way: “In 2009, for every dollar of wealth the average white household had, black households only had two cents.”

Austin thinks more black people than ever before could fall out of the middle class because the unemployment rate for college-educated blacks recently peaked and blacks are overrepresented in state and local government jobs. Those are jobs that are being eliminated because of massive budget shortfalls.

Since the end of the recession, which lasted from 2007 to 2009, the overall unemployment rate has fallen from 9.4 to 9.1 percent, while the black unemployment rate has risen from 14.7 to 16.2 percent, according to the Department of Labor. Last April, black male unemployment hit the highest rate since the government began keeping track in 1972. Only 56.9 percent of black men over 20 were working, compared with 68.1 percent of white men.

Even college-educated blacks fared worse than their white counterparts in the recession. In 2007, unemployment for college-educated whites was 1.8 percent; for college-educated blacks it was 2.7 percent. Now, the college-educated unemployment rate is 3.9 percent for whites and 7 percent for blacks.

Nearly 8 percent of African Americans who bought homes from 2005 to 2008 have lost them to foreclosure, compared with 4.5 percent of whites, according to an estimate by the Center for Responsible Lending.

Some see a bitter irony in soaring black unemployment and the decline of the black middle class on the watch of the first black president.

“I thought Barack Obama could have provided some way out. But he lacks backbone,” Princeton Professor Cornel West told truthdig.com recently.

West said Obama sold out the poor to become “a black mascot of Wall Street oligarchs and a black puppet of corporate plutocrats. . . . I don’t think in good conscience I could tell anybody to vote for Obama.”

Wiley said Obama should be applauded for several initiatives that have helped the black middle class, such as programs to modify certain mortgages and prevent foreclosure because of job loss. But she would like Obama to aggressively counter the suggestion that first black president would be showing favoritism if he specifically helped black people.

“It’s the right thing to do for the nation,” she said. “Black people are a huge segment of the population, they’re especially hard-hit, and the country cannot recover if the black community — as well as the white community and others — does not recover.”


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Sources: Chicago Sun Times, CNBC, Daily Beast, Digital Journal, Mediaite, Youtube, Google Maps

Black Voters Are Angry! Black Agenda Ignored! Decision 2010

Low Black Voter Turn Out During The 2010 November Elections Is What The Democrats Get For Insisting That NO Black Agenda Was Needed!

President Obama & Other Democrat Party Leaders Actually Thought Black Voters Were Stupid.

Can You Believe It?

Elite Democrat Leaders Foolishly Thought They Could Just Throw The American Black Community Under The Bus Without Retribution.

Wake Up!

Why Do You Think Adrian Fenty (DC's Former Mayor) Was Recently Kicked Out Of Office?

Here Black People Are Currently Experiencing A 34% National Unemployment Rate Mostly Due To Blatant Racism Yet No One In Congress, Nor Any Local Black Leaders Appear To Give A Darn!

Now We'll See Who's Stupid On November 2nd.

Will Black Voters Sit Out This Election?

Of Course Not! Our Votes Are Too Valuable For Such Complacency.

Many Of Us Will Just Cast Our Ballots For GOP Candidates.

See You At The Polls.

Ha Ha Ha!

Peace









How Adrian Fenty Lost His Re-Election Bid For D.C. Mayor


One afternoon in late June, D.C. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty's political advisers invited their boss to a downtown conference room to report an unsettling development: Focus groups commissioned by the campaign were saying that Fenty's leadership style was offensive and that he was oblivious to constituents' concerns.

If the mayor had any chance of winning them over, the prospective voters told the campaign, he needed to apologize for his actions.

Tom Lindenfeld, the mayor's chief political strategist, proposed a cure, a one-page letter to be delivered to thousands of voters across the District, a letter in which Fenty would acknowledge mistakes and express remorse. He would promise to change.

"What is this?" the mayor said, reading the letter and tossing it away.

"The things you don't do now will be much harder for voters to ignore later," Lindenfeld told him.

The mayor slammed his hand on the table.

"I'm proud of my record," Fenty shot back, according to Lindenfeld and two others present at the meeting. The mayor stood and walked out.

Across the decade in which he shot to the top of the city's political pyramid, Fenty relied on unrelenting energy and a well-honed internal compass - his gut - to navigate three elections and the often treacherous complexities of running a big city. His instinct told him he could win a D.C. Council seat in 2000, even against a veteran incumbent. He was right. In 2006, he ignored the doubters who said he was too young at 35 and unaccomplished to capture the mayoralty. He was right then, too.

As the 2010 Democratic primary campaign arrived, the mayor's instinct told him that his accomplishments would far outweigh complaints that he seemed aloof and uncaring. Overhauling the school system meant something, he told loyalists. Building swimming pools and soccer fields affected people's lives. His handpicked police chief was popular across the city. When it was time to vote, the mayor was confident, the substance of his administration's work would trump all.

How Fenty came to squander that success and the goodwill that catapulted him to office is the story of a mayor who misread an electorate he was sure he knew better than anyone, who ignored advisers' early warnings that key constituencies were abandoning him, who shut out confidantes who told him what he did not want to hear and who began to listen only when the race was all but lost. The account is based on interviews with more than a dozen of Fenty's advisers and supporters, including some such as Lindenfeld and campaign chairman Bill Lightfoot, and others who talked only on the condition of anonymity because they did not want to appear critical of the mayor. The sources were interviewed Tuesday or earlier with the agreement that the information would not be published until after the election. The mayor was interviewed in the final hours before the campaign ended.

Fenty, an incumbent with a $5 million war chest who lost to council Chairman Vincent C. Gray on Tuesday, used many of the same tactics that had won him the mayoralty in 2006, frustrating advisers who thought he needed a more sophisticated campaign. He refused to pay for pollsters to measure the public mood, for example, or hire researchers to dig up dirt on Gray. Instead, the mayor appeared to run as an insurgent and relied on what had delivered him to the apex four years earlier: door-to-door campaigning and that internal compass that no longer seemed to work.

Fenty, in an interview, said he has lots of advisers but that he himself is a student of political history, citing books he has read about past elections and presidents such as John F. Kennedy and Barack Obama. He said he trusts himself to know the path to victory, when it's time to attack an opponent or acknowledge a mistake.

"Ultimately," Fenty said, "the candidate and person in charge has to make the final decision."

But Lindenfeld, who found his advice to the mayor ignored, said Fenty's belief in his own radar was misplaced.

"His campaign's failing resulted from a combination of tenor, hubris, pride and political malpractice," Lindenfeld said Tuesday. "Campaigns that win are ones that are nimble. He's got only one play in his playbook: knocking on doors."

Blind to a rising tide


As the year began and the mayor prepared for his reelection campaign, he knew that he could remind voters that crime was down and students' math and reading scores were up. Despite a double-digit unemployment rate, the District's economy had fared far better than nearly all other cities during a national recession. On top of that, the mayor's campaign war chest had surpassed $4 million at that point, and months passed without a formidable challenger emerging.

Still, within his inner circle, concerns arose that a long string of decisions that threatened to alienate voters, such as the mayor's unannounced vacation in Dubai that was paid for by a foreign government; his refusal to share Washington Nationals baseball tickets with the council; and Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee's dismissal of hundreds of teachers and dozens of principals for what she said was poor performance. Allegations that the mayor's fraternity brothers had gotten lucrative city contracts prompted the council to sponsor a special investigation and hold months of public hearings.

Advisers, including Lindenfeld and Lightfoot, warned Fenty in the spring that he needed to take notice. They questioned why Fenty was still traveling the campaign trail with Sinclair Skinner, a friend at the center of the contracts scandal. Independent polls showed the mayor's popularity slipping, including a January survey sponsored by council member David A. Catania (I-At Large), a Fenty ally who took it upon himself to stop by the mayor's office to share the results.

"I thought it was time to take the subject seriously and to start reversing those declining numbers if he was going to mount a serious reelection effort," Catania said.

But the council member said Fenty seemed unfazed. "I didn't see a sense of urgency on his part," Catania said.

In mid-March, Fenty campaigned in Southeast, taking along his stepbrother, B. Seth Bryant, 40, who was surprised by the hostility they encountered.

Bryant wondered why there weren't reporters around to record the moment. For months, the mayor refused to release a campaign schedule to the media or the public, a policy that confused some advisers.

"You need to have some cameras going with you door to door," Bryant recalled telling the mayor, whom he described as unresponsive. "I think a lot of supporters, myself included, have been surprised at how insular his administration has been."

On that afternoon in Southeast, Bryant said, the cameras would have caught the grateful woman who told the mayor that she had once been homeless and that his administration had helped find her an apartment.

On March 30, after weeks of speculation, Gray announced his candidacy, declaring that the city needed inclusive and transparent leadership, a direct appeal to those who thought that Fenty was too secretive, ruled by fiat, and had shut them out.

That night, four people were killed and five wounded in shootings on South Capitol Street, the deadliest spasm of violence in the city in years. The mayor didn't show up to the crime scene until 24 hours later, his arrival prompting boos from the crowd and a renewed wave of complaints that he was disconnected.

Where had Fenty been? Initially, he and his aides were vague about his whereabouts, but then they confirmed that he had been on a family vacation in Jamaica. During an interview Saturday, the mayor amended the story to say that after Jamaica, he had taken his two sons to a tennis tournament in Florida, which is where he was when he learned of the shootings.

Asked where in Florida, Fenty said, "Can't you just say Florida?"

A campaign in peril


Less than two weeks after the shootings, a couple hundred supporters, many of them Fenty appointees and paid staff members, listened to the mayor declare his candidacy for reelection at his Georgia Avenue NW headquarters.

The broad spectrum of former loyalists and donors missing from the crowd also suggested how the mayor's fortunes had changed since 2006. Gone were people such as philanthropist Judith Terra, education advocate Marc Borbely and gay rights activist Peter Rosenstein, all of whom now support Gray. Fenty punctuated his speech with a mantra that seemed aimed at those who had questioned his hard-charging style: "We did it because it was the right thing to do!"

Despite Fenty's defiance, his advisers were concerned about the anger toward the mayor that simmered in black neighborhoods. In May, Lightfoot asked Darryl Wiggins, a business owner who was vice chairman of the mayor's 2006 transition committee, to host a meeting at which a half-dozen prospective black voters, a cross section of professionals and blue-collar workers ages 40 to 60, would be encouraged to speak candidly about Fenty.

For several hours, Wiggins recalled later, the group railed about Fenty's failure to appoint African Americans to top administration posts, his approval of the mass firings of teachers, many of whom are black, and his apparent lack of concern for their struggles during an economic downturn. By the end of the meetings, Wiggins said, he was sure that, in a city that is majority black, the mayor's campaign was deeply troubled.

"Black people are not going to go out quietly," Wiggins said.

Based on the group's attitudes, Lightfoot urged Fenty to pay for additional focus groups, since he would not agree to commission polls. Their campaign was in peril, and they needed to know the way forward. Fenty agreed, if grudgingly.

By May, some of Fenty's advisers thought he needed to counter Gray's unceasing focus on the allegations of cronyism that shadowed the mayor, a strategy that would represent a dramatic departure from his usual style. In three previous campaigns, including the 2006 mayoral race, Fenty's draw as a candidate was at least partially rooted in his positive message and refusal to beat up opponents.

But advisers such as Ronald Moten, Fenty's friend and a community activist, recall telling the mayor that "if the public doesn't find out who Vince Gray is, there's a good chance you could lose."

Fenty's response, Moten said, was cautious: His shots would come at the right time. Moten couldn't wait. By mid-May, the activist launched his own Web site devoted to attacking Gray.

On June 3, Fenty jumped into the fray, using a Democratic candidates forum in Foxhall to criticize his opponent's past record as director of the Department of Human Services, a gambit that surprised members of his campaign team who were in the audience and thought it made the mayor look petty to personally deride the council chairman. They believed surrogates should be enlisted to attack Gray.

Fenty persisted. Over the ensuing weeks, they thought that Fenty had no focus to his attack, meandering from DHS to a fence that Gray had improperly installed at his home to other matters. Some advisers thought the mayor's delivery was unpolished, should have bored in solely on DHS and would have been more effective in campaign literature. At Fenty headquarters, the meetings to map strategy became less frequent, if they were held at all. The mayor, it seemed, was both candidate and campaign manager.

Fenty, in an interview Tuesday, said his reelection strategy was rooted in what had worked for him in the past. He hadn't needed pollsters before, and he did not need them now. "I've never polled. It's a decision I made 12 years ago. It's always worked, so why change?" he said. "I ran this campaign like I ran all my campaigns.

"There's no one thing that wins elections," he said.

By early June, whatever the mayor was telling himself was not producing results he wanted.

On June 17, Gray beat Fenty in a straw poll in Ward 3, an area of Northwest that the mayor counted as his most enthusiastic base. The mayor's allies were beginning to sense a changing landscape. Gray was raising money - nearly $100,000 more, in fact, than the mayor had in the three previous months.

One friend recalled driving along on 13th or 16th Street NW, near the mayor's home, and being surprised by the number of Gray lawn signs. "It was like, 'Wow, What's going on?' " said the friend, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he didn't want to appear to betray the mayor. "It was like 50-50, and it dawned on me, this thing is a lot closer than I thought."

Contrition, too late


By early July, the mayor remained unwilling to follow his advisers' recommendation that he apologize for offending Washingtonians. But he agreed to deal more head-on with voters' criticism. He approved a commercial in which supporters voiced the common complaints about his apparent arrogance and indifference, and then provided their own answer for what mattered most: the results that his administration delivered.

Yet nothing seemed to turn the electorate toward him. On Aug. 4, Democrats in the mayor's home district, Ward 4, held their straw vote, an event that drew so many people to the ballroom at St. George Antiochian Orthodox Christian Church that Lightfoot couldn't get inside. Standing on the sidewalk, Lightfoot eyed the arriving masses of Gray supporters, many of them senior citizens, and knew the mayor was in for a difficult night.

The mayor's performance during the forum - he lashed out at Gray on a range of topics - only further confirmed Lightfoot's fears. "He's supposed to be the king," the campaign chairman said later. "The king doesn't get dragged out to the gutter."

Gray won the straw poll 581 to 401, leaving Fenty's aides scrambling to play down the significance of the mayor losing in the ward that had launched his political career.

Almost immediately, friends began urging the mayor to shift gears: He needed to show contrition. He needed to prove to Washingtonians that he understood their disappointment with him. More than ever, he needed to apologize.

Neil O. Albert, the city administrator, and council member Muriel Bowser (D-Ward 4) helped assemble a list of more than 100 activists and former supporters for Fenty to call. On Aug. 11, during a debate with Gray, he inched closer to a mea culpa, saying, "I haven't done a good job of communicating and including people."

On Aug. 29, The Washington Post published the results of a poll that put into numbers what many in the Fenty campaign had feared. The mayor for months had refused to conduct a poll. Now he learned that he trailed Gray by 17 points among likely Democratic voters, a margin that seemed too much to make up with slightly more than two weeks to go. His wife, Michelle, later described herself and the mayor as "shocked" at the poll.

On that Sunday morning, Fenty summoned his staff members to campaign headquarters. He stood in the middle of the large room, pacing as he spoke, then grabbing a chair and sitting down, urging them not to lose hope.

Remember his race against council member Charlene Drew Jarvis in 2000? He had been the underdog and he had won. Or how about Obama after Hillary Rodham Clinton had surprised him in New Hampshire?

You get down, Fenty said, but you bounce back. This is when the work begins.

The staff erupted in cheers, some grabbing the mayor's hands as they chanted, "One, two, three! Fenty!"

Three days later, at the last of the debates, Fenty asked for forgiveness and a second chance and said that "even mayors can make mistakes and that people can learn from their mistakes," words not unlike those his advisers had proposed he tell voters more than two months before, when they urged him to apologize.

By September, though, an electorate once electrified by Adrian Fenty's youth and energy no longer seemed to be listening.


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Sources: Charmeck.org, NY Times, Newsone, Washington Post, Youtube, Google Maps

Harold Johnson Vs Larry Kissell: Low Black Voter Turnout For Nov. 2010 Elections

Low Black Voter Turn Out During The 2010 November Elections Is What The Democrats Get For Insisting That NO Black Agenda Was Needed!

President Obama & Other Democrat Party Leaders Thought Black Voters Were Stupid.

Can You Believe It?

Elite Democrat Leaders Foolishly Thought They Could Just Throw The American Black Community Under The Bus Without Retribution.

Here Black People Are Currently Experiencing A 34% National Unemployment Rate Mostly Due To Blatant Racism Yet No One In Congress, Nor Any Local Black
Leaders Appear To Give A Darn!

Wake Up!

Why Do You Think Adrian Fenty (DC's Former Mayor) Was Recently Kicked Out Of Office?

Now We'll See Who's Stupid On November 2nd.

Will Black Voters Sit Out This Election?

Of Course Not! Our Votes Are Too Valuable For Such Complacency.

Many Of Us Will Just Cast Our Ballots For GOP Candidates.

See You At The Polls.

Peace











Harold Johnson vs Larry Kissell: TV Ads Are Key To A Close Political Race


There have been no candidate debates, few fiery speeches or partisan campaign rallies.

But the 8th District congressional race has exploded onto TV screens in what could be North Carolina's closest and most expensive campaign.

Freshman U.S. Rep. Larry Kissell faces Republican Harold Johnson and Libertarian Thomas Hill in the district that stretches from Charlotte to Fayetteville.

Republicans need 39 seats to win control of the House. Polls and pundits suggest the 8th District could be the most likely to change hands.

That's why outside groups alone have poured more than $2.5 million into the district, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Only eight House races in America have seen more.

Even though Kissell broke from his party on high-profile issues such as health care, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has spent more than $680,000 on TV ads against Johnson. On Thursday the National Education Association launched TV ads against Johnson, part of a $600,000 effort on Kissell's behalf.

Meanwhile, the conservative Americans for Job Security has spent $560,000 on anti-Kissell ads. And last week, a group called the Center for Individual Freedom began airing ads against him. It's unclear how much the group spent, though it's reportedly part of a $2 million buy across 10 districts.

The spending underscores one thing: The race is a toss-up. Some analysts say it leans Republican. Others say it leans Democrat.

All concede that it's close.

As Republicans try to lash Kissell to Washington Democrats such as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, he has found an unusual way to underscore his independence.

By turning overseas.

Last week, Kissell escorted two Swiss consuls on tours of a high-tech solar plant in Cabarrus County and the N.C. Research Campus in Kannapolis. Earlier, he brought in diplomats from Israel, Singapore and Zambia, all in the hope of finding new markets and investments for an 8th District hit hard by job losses.

"I don't get into this Washington, inside-the-beltway politics," Kissell said. "That's not who I am. I'm about the district."

Counting on momentum

Johnson hopes a Republican tide lifts him to victory.

"We've been working around this thing called momentum for a long time," said Johnson, 69. "You can feel it."

Affable and white-haired, he connects with audiences by recalling his three decades as a sportscaster for WSOC-TV. Speaking to the Kannapolis Rotary last week, he recounted anecdotes about local high school rivalries and coaches.

"I've followed your students and sons and daughters," he said.

He laced references to "this great land of ours" with stories of how his own pluck and persistence helped him rise from a modest background.

Johnson, who moved to Concord earlier this year after decades in Iredell County, likes to say Kissell's first vote will be for Pelosi, a California Democrat reviled by conservatives. But he's often vague about issues.

Asked by a reporter where he would cut spending, for example, he said he would "look at everything" and go after waste and fraud. He said there are "25 to 30" outdated programs at the Education department alone but did not name any.

Later, Johnson found friendly faces as he mingled with lunchtime diners at Lee's Sandwich Shop.

"He's not a Democrat," said Kannapolis real estate agent Eric McKnight, 69. "We can't afford to have any more people in Congress that are going to spend and spend and spend and put us further in debt."

Campaigning differences

Johnson, who has faced a barrage of more than $1 million in outside spending, has had to spend a lot of time raising money at home and in Washington.

Hill, the Libertarian from Cabarrus County, is an electrician whose job often keeps him - and his outspoken views - off the trail.

"I hate to speak ill of the people in Washington," he said in an interview. "But they have committed evil deeds against the people of America. They're traitors."

Kissell, who once walked door-to-door in the rain looking for votes, has foregone much of that kind of campaigning for those that come with the perks of incumbency.

In addition to "reverse trade missions" such as the one with the Swiss consuls, he hosted a federal contracting symposium in Albemarle. He touts efforts to bring nearly $3 million in federal grants to district police departments and the Monroe airport, and a $1 million U.S. Department of Agriculture center to the Research Campus.

Faced with ads that link him to Pelosi, he takes every opportunity to distance himself from Washington. Asked if he would vote for her again, he said it depends who the candidates are. Unlike party leaders, he would extend Bush-era tax cuts for wealthier Americans, if only for two years.

Like Johnson, he can be vague. He offers no specifics on spending cuts and declines to say whether he would support a so-called pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants already in this country.

"Until we get the border controlled," he says, "we can't discuss any other issues."

Kissell's track record

Since taking office, Kissell has built a moderate record.

His votes rank him squarely in the ideological middle of the House, according to a National Journal analysis. This month he was endorsed by the National Rifle Association, which generally backs Republicans.

The votes that please some disappointed others. Some Democrats are still angry over Kissell's votes against health care and other party-backed legislation. They plan to vote for him, however reluctantly.

"There are a lot of people who feel he is the lesser of the two evils," says Walter Rogers of Scotland County, chair of the N.C. Black Leadership Caucus. "So he is going to get something a lot of politicians don't - a second chance."

Kissell's focus on his district brought recognition from the American Farm Bureau Federation and the Business-Industry Political Action Committee, which called him one of 20 "Pro-Prosperity" House Democrats.

"We've called on him and his staff on a number of issues and found him to be exceptionally responsive and increasingly knowledgeable," says John Cox, president and CEO of the Cabarrus Regional Chamber of Commerce.

The "reverse trade missions" impress executives such as Brooks Agnew. The CEO of a company that plans to manufacture electric trucks in Cabarrus, he met with Kissell and the Swiss diplomats.

"We don't have a budget to travel the world and go to places like Switzerland or Singapore," said Agnew. "This is really important for companies like ours."

Tim Masud, president of Golden Gait Trailers in Concord, credits Kissell with helping orchestrate a sale of equipment to Zambia worth tens of millions of dollars to his and other N.C. companies.

"I usually vote pretty much Republican all the way, but I will be voting for him," Masud says, "not because of the deal but I believe he's the right man for the job."

Kissell hopes such sentiments help him win a second term.

"The best way to get re-elected," he says, "is to do a good job."








Democrats Underperformed For Black Voters: Decision 2010


One of the things giving Democratic candidates across the country trouble this year that has perhaps not gotten as much attention as it should is that they are really under polling with black voters. It's a given that black turnout is going to be way down from its 2008 levels this year but more troublesome for Democratic candidates is that they are running well behind Barack Obama's approval numbers with African Americans in almost every key race we've polled over the last six weeks.

There's a couple ways to look at that. One is that polling frequently underestimates Democratic performance with black voters further out from an election and that 90% of them will vote Democratic as they usually do. If that's the case polls right now are underestimating the party's candidates across the board and Democrats won't do as poorly in November as the current conventional wisdom. The other way to look at it is that black voters, like other voters, are less enthused with the Democrats than they are in the average election cycle and will indeed support them at a lower rate than usual.

If I had to guess I'd say Democratic candidates will end up doing a lot better with black voters than they are currently, but that the level of support they receive will not quite be at its usual lofty levels. Democratic support from African Americans may more often this year end up in the 80% plus or minus 5 points range instead of the 90% plus or minus 5 points range.

Here's the data comparing Obama's approval with blacks to the support level of Democratic Senate and Gubernatorial candidates with them in states where the black population is at least 10%:


Race:

Obama Approval w/Blacks
Democrat w/Blacks (Dropoff)

Illinois Governor
88%
Pat Quinn 41% (47)

Florida Senate
79%
Kendrick Meek 48% (31)

Texas Governor
90%
Bill White 62% (28)

Pennsylvania Governor
80%
Dan Onorato 56% (24)

North Carolina Senate
87%
Elaine Marshall 67% (20)

Florida Governor
79%
Alex Sink 60% (19)

Illinois Senate
88%
Alexi Giannoulias 69% (19)

Delaware Senate
82%
Chris Coons 63% (19)

Michigan Governor
74%
Virg Bernero 57% (17)

Pennsylvania Senate
80%
Joe Sestak 64% (16)

Ohio Senate
84%
Lee Fisher 68% (16)

Missouri Senate
78%
Robin Carnahan 67% (11)

Ohio Governor
84%
Ted Strickland 79% (5)

On average the Democratic nominees are running 21 points behind Obama's approval with black voters. Closing that gap is going to be key to winning these races or in some cases even making them competitive.






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Sources: Charmeck.org, McClatchy Newspapers, NY Times, Public Policy Polling, Washington Post, Wikipedia, John Locke Foundation, WCNC, Youtube, Google Maps

Democrats Losing Black Voters In 2010: Dems Reject Black Agenda

Democrats Underperformed For Black Voters: Decision 2010


One of the things giving Democratic candidates across the country trouble this year that has perhaps not gotten as much attention as it should is that they are really under polling with black voters. It's a given that black turnout is going to be way down from its 2008 levels this year but more troublesome for Democratic candidates is that they are running well behind Barack Obama's approval numbers with African Americans in almost every key race we've polled over the last six weeks.

There's a couple ways to look at that. One is that polling frequently underestimates Democratic performance with black voters further out from an election and that 90% of them will vote Democratic as they usually do. If that's the case polls right now are underestimating the party's candidates across the board and Democrats won't do as poorly in November as the current conventional wisdom. The other way to look at it is that black voters, like other voters, are less enthused with the Democrats than they are in the average election cycle and will indeed support them at a lower rate than usual.

If I had to guess I'd say Democratic candidates will end up doing a lot better with black voters than they are currently, but that the level of support they receive will not quite be at its usual lofty levels. Democratic support from African Americans may more often this year end up in the 80% plus or minus 5 points range instead of the 90% plus or minus 5 points range.

Here's the data comparing Obama's approval with blacks to the support level of Democratic Senate and Gubernatorial candidates with them in states where the black population is at least 10%:


Race:

Obama Approval w/Blacks
Democrat w/Blacks (Dropoff)

Illinois Governor
88%
Pat Quinn 41% (47)

Florida Senate
79%
Kendrick Meek 48% (31)

Texas Governor
90%
Bill White 62% (28)

Pennsylvania Governor
80%
Dan Onorato 56% (24)

North Carolina Senate
87%
Elaine Marshall 67% (20)

Florida Governor
79%
Alex Sink 60% (19)

Illinois Senate
88%
Alexi Giannoulias 69% (19)

Delaware Senate
82%
Chris Coons 63% (19)

Michigan Governor
74%
Virg Bernero 57% (17)

Pennsylvania Senate
80%
Joe Sestak 64% (16)

Ohio Senate
84%
Lee Fisher 68% (16)

Missouri Senate
78%
Robin Carnahan 67% (11)

Ohio Governor
84%
Ted Strickland 79% (5)

On average the Democratic nominees are running 21 points behind Obama's approval with black voters. Closing that gap is going to be key to winning these races or in some cases even making them competitive.







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Sources: Public Policy Polling, Wikipedia, John Locke Foundation, Youtube, Google Maps