“Now I’m not convinced she’s any different from any other politician”
Even in a Harlem church where former U.S. President Bill Clinton is revered, his wife and presidential aspirant Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has some work to do with black women once expected to be firmly in her camp.
“Right now, she’s my front-runner, but that may change the more I learn about Obama,” said Angela Lago.
Danese Smalls, who sells jewelry in the historic black neighborhood of New York, said she changed her mind after Clinton voted to support the U.S.-led war in Iraq.
“She lost me on that. Now I’m not convinced she’s any different from any other politician,” Smalls said.
Donna Brazile, a Democratic strategist and black woman who managed the presidential campaign for former Vice President Al Gore, said it was difficult to predict who black women would vote for.
“It’s a key voting block. Black women tend to make their minds up early, and they get involved in other ways as well,” Brazile said.Black women register and turn out to vote in higher numbers than the overall population, she noted.
“Both candidates are attractive, they have strong civil rights records and the experience black women most depend on in making their selection,” Brazile said. “It’s hard to guess where black women will ultimately stand.”
Research by pollster John Zogby from February and March showed black women supporting Clinton with 35 percent; Obama, the only black senator, with 22 percent; former Sen. John Edwards with 6 percent; and the rest undecided.
But a widely cited ABC-Washington Post poll in February showed Obama with 44 percent of support among black voters and Clinton with 33 percent. Earlier polls showed Clinton ahead of Obama with black voters by 60 percent to 20 percent.
“I’m torn,” said New York-based film producer Lisa Cortes, a black woman. “This election makes you think very differently because it’s not about ‘Oh, which white man?'”
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17964615/