Emotional tide lifts potential for voter registration

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By Tom Baxter
Southern Political Report

June 9, 2008 — Last week was a gully-washer of political emotion, as Barack Obama became the first African-American to represent a major party as its presidential candidate, and Hillary Clinton bowed out after coming closer to the presidential prize than any woman ever has. As an indicator of what all this might mean in the fall, one comment in particular struck home.

Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.), the House majority whip, didn’t endorse Obama until the last surge of superdelegates began last Tuesday. He’s a crafty politician who got where he is with patience and cool judgment. Here’s what he told an interview in a program broadcast over the weekend on South Carolina ETV:

“I was at an event where we were all watching the returns and when we got to the point that they said that Senator Obama will be making the speech in a few minutes, I went home and sat alone at home to watch it. Because what I was feeling was indescribable and I was afraid I would not be able to control my emotions,” Clyburn said.

If an African-American politician as Washington-wise as Clyburn describes his feelings in this way, then we shouldn’t assume that the sharply increased turnout in Democratic presidential primaries across the South this year fully represents Obama’s potential to turn out African-American voters in the fall.

To realize that potential, Obama has already staked considerable resources in building Vote for Change, the campaign’s voter registration and mobilization drive. Already, in Louisiana, there are reports of parish registrar offices swamped with some 70,000 new applications from a voter drive paid for by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Paid Omama staff have been sighted on the ground in Georgia and Virginia, and virtually everywhere else we checked, the word in most of the state parties is that Obama troops specifically tasked with voter registration are on the way.

“I think they want to compete everywhere, and I think they can compete everywhere. They have the money,” said Joe Werner, executive director of the South Carolina Democratic Party.

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