Mc Clatchy has confirmed my canvassing experiences. Black voters are furious with the Clintons. They won't vote for Hillary in November if she's the Democratic nominee.
If Obama isn't the nominee, "there would be a significant number of African-Americans who would stay home. They're not voting for (presumptive Republican nominee) John McCain," predicted David Bositis, a senior analyst at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, which researches black voting trends.
The black voters interviewed by Mc Clatchy reporters sound just like the black voters I have canvassed in central North Carolina in Sanford and Pittsboro.
"It would hurt me not to vote," said Charles Clark, an Indianapolis retiree. He's thinking about leaving the presidential box on his ballot blank this fall if Hillary Clinton is the Democrats' nominee.
"There was a heck of a push made so blacks could vote. I know that," he said. "But it would also be very unfair if they pushed Barack Obama to the side."
Michelle Moore, an Indianapolis housewife, is less gentle: "Hillary Clinton would not even still be in the race if Obama was a white man," she said.
If Hillary Clinton had won 11 straight contests as Obama did, the commercial media and the Democratic Party would have declared the race over. If Hillary Clinton had the commanding delegate lead Obama has now the commercial media would be calling her a sore loser.
Instead, after 3 weeks of non-stop attacks by ABC and Fox news over people Obama associated with in the past, the Commercial media is talking about how Obama is losing ground. I just listened to this nonsense on NPR of all places as I drove home.
The angry black voters are right.
This would be over if Barack Obama was a white man.
Professor Hunter Bascot has been hearing exactly what I have heard.
Hunter Bacot, an associate professor of political science at Elon University in North Carolina, saw another piece of political history haunting black Obama backers.
"There's a sentiment among blacks that they've been taken for granted by the Democratic Party," Bacot said. "If Obama loses, it's as though their candidate's victory was overturned."
If they are denied they will refuse to be taken for granted any longer.
Update: My Obama sign, a block from the Pittsboro courthouse, on US 64 was stolen today.
For my take on the Wright story please see my diary from 2 days ago.