Obama’s Iowa Victory: What Does it Mean?
By Sonsyrea Tate Montgomery
WI Managing Editor
Thursday, January 10, 2007
Several Washington area African American leaders are heading to New Hampshire to campaign for presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) In Prince George’s County, Rushern Baker, a former candidate for County Executive, took a team of volunteers to New Hampshire to campaign for Obama over the weekend. District Mayor Adrian Fenty, who offered an early endorsement of Obama last summer, also is scheduled to join Obama for the primary tomorrow.
Obama’s historic victory in the Iowa Caucus last week gave him momentum that is likely to sweep him into a victory in the New Hampshire primary tomorrow (Jan. 8) and onto victory in the next big primary scheduled on Jan. 26 in South Carolina.
Ron Walters, a professor of political science and director of the African American Leadership Center at the University of Maryland, College Park, notes that anyone who considered Barack Obama “unelectable” must now take a second look.
Candidates Campaign
at U-Md.
By Karisse Carmack
WI Contributing Writer
Presidential Candidate Sen. Barack Obama promised students he would keep them safe. The Illinois senator, stumping through the Washington area in the days leading up to primary elections on Tuesday, told a crowd at the University of Maryland at College Park he would work to end what he called an “unwise” war and ensure their needs are met.
“As Commander-in-Chief, my job is to keep you safe,” said Obama. “Keeping you safe also means using the military wisely, and the War in Iraq was unwise.”
For nearly 45 minutes, Obama talked about increasing civic engagement among citizens, including coming up with a plan to pay for some of college students’ loans in exchange for community and national service.
Chelsea Clinton Stumps for Her Mother at the University of Maryland Sunday
By Kelly Wilson
Capital News Service
Chelsea Clinton avoided mentioning her mother's rival in a subdued and poorly-attended question-and-answer session promoting Sen. Hillary Clinton's Democratic primary campaign at the University of Maryland's campus Sunday.
Before an audience of about 200 in the food court of the Adele H. Stamp Student Union, the former first daughter said her mother's past success with Republican voters in her New York campaigns is an indicator of her viability in the general election, a key concern among Democratic voters. She avoided any real comparisons with Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, her mother's opponent for the Democratic presidential nomination.
Can a Black Candidate Woo Hispanics?
By Pauline Arrilaga
AP National Writer
PHOENIX (AP) - His rallying cry echoes the late Cesar Chavez, the Latino activist who inspired legions with three simple words, “Si, se puede!”
The loose translation – “Yes, we can!” - has become Barack Obama's call to arms. But now, some are asking: Can he?
After a dismal showing among Hispanics in his Super Tuesday showdown with Hillary Clinton last week, can Obama entice this key voting bloc? And, if not, what might that say about a color divide that extends beyond Black-White in an ever-expanding brown America?
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Democrats ‘Fired Up’As Potomac Primary Approaches
RICHMOND (NNPA) - Heading into Virginia with the wind at their back, the campaign of Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama is rolling. more
Black Leaders Split Between Obama, Clinton
An Interview with Ill. Rep. Danny K. Davis
The scene is the conference room of the Renaissance hotel where the National Policy Alliance (NPA) held its ninth biennial summit last month in downtown Washington, D.C. Composed of nine organizations, the NPA represents 10,000 Black elected officials and over three million employees of cities, counties, states and federal agencies.
Obama Campaign Prepares for Super Tuesday
By Hazel Trice Edney
NNPA Editor-in-Chief
ATLANTA (NNPA) – The eyes of the people at Gate A15 at the Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta were focused in one direction – and that was not on the flight monitor. Heads were turned upward, ears straining to hear the TV set hanging from the ceiling. On the screen, the figures showed that Sen. Barack Obama had just defeated Sen. Hillary Clinton 55 percent to 27 percent in South Carolina’s Democratic Primary with John Edwards hanging in with 18 percent.
“In the South where we were lynched?…My God,” marveled Tracie Powell, a middle-aged Black accountant on her way home to Maryland. “If the slave masters could only wake up and see this.”
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Obama Support Spreads as He Wins South Carolina – Now What?
By Hazel Trice Edney
NNPA Editor-in-Chief
ATLANTA (NNPA) – The eyes of the people at Gate A15 at the Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta were focused in one direction – and that was not on the flight monitor. Heads were turned upward, ears straining to hear the TV set hanging from the ceiling.
On the screen the figures showed that Barack Obama had just defeated Hillary Clinton 55 percent to 27 percent in South Carolina’s Democratic Primary with John Edwards hanging in with 18 percent.
Remarks of Senator
Edward M. Kennedy On Endorsement of Senator Barack Obama for President
January 28, 2008
Thank you, Caroline. Thank you for that wonderful introduction and for your courage and bold vision, for your insight and understanding, and for the power and reach of your words.
Like you, we too “want a president who appeals to the hopes of those who still believe in the American Dream, and those around the world who still believe in the American ideal; and who can lift our spirits, and make us believe again.” Thank you, Caroline. Your mother and father would be so proud today.
Comedy Relief
Hillary better watch out!
She’s cruisin’ for a brusin’ by picking on Obama
By Sheletta Brundidge
Mark my words, Obama is gonna slap Hillary at one of these presidential debates. The former First Lady is always clowning and trying to make him look bad. Y’all know a brother ain’t gonna take too much lip from nobody.
And then she does this in public, and his momma ‘nem are watching. I hope she knows how to bob and weave.
Next Stop: South Carolina
By Cash Michaels
Special to the NNPA from the Wilmington Journal
Now it’s South Carolina’s turn.
Several of the latest polls show Sen. Barack Obama, who stunned the world by winning the Iowa caucuses a week ago by a convincing eight-point margin, has a solid lead heading into the Jan. 26 Democratic presidential primary there. Key to that lead is the African American vote.
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By Joseph Young
WI Staff Writer
More than 5,000 filled an auditorium at American University on Monday to watch members of the politically famous Kennedy family endorse presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.)
“Every time I’ve been asked over the past year who I would support in the Democratic Primary, my answer has always been the same:
By Charles Babington
Associated Press Writer
Thursday, January 28, 2008
MACON, Georgia (AP) - Democrats Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama, each claiming a pair of early victories, now leave the concentrated campaigning of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina for an unwieldy and costly 10-day dash through 22 states that hold presidential primaries or caucuses Feb. 5.
By Patrice Gaines
WI Columnist
SOUTH CAROLINA - Juanita Mints figured there was major change in the air when she saw the two young Barack Obama campaigners who drove up into her yard in Bowman, S.C.
“One was a White fellow and one was Black,” said Mints, a retired school teacher. “I was telling a friend he really had people working for him today.
By Nedra Pickler
Associated Press
Thursday, January 28, 2008
The woman who famously labeled Bill Clinton as the "first Black president" is backing Barack Obama to be the second.
Author Toni Morrison said her endorsement of the Democratic presidential candidate has little to do with Obama's race - he is the son of a Black father from Kenya and a White mother from Kansas - but rather his personal gifts.
Civil Rights Leaders See 2008 as Year of Movement
By Hazel Trice Edney
NNPA Editor-in-Chief
Leaving what could be described as the most intense year for civil rights activism since before the death of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. nearly 40 years ago, civil rights leaders vowed to move into 2008 with the vigor to go beyond the freedoms gained in the 1960s to the equality that is yet to be achieved.
“On Dr. King’s birthday 40 years ago, he spoke on the triple evils of racism, capitalism and militarism,” the Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. told the NNPA News Service last week.
NPA Wants Black Issues on 2008 Campaign Agenda
Long-time activist and Tuskegee Alabama Mayor Johnny Ford said he wants more emphasis on African American and urban issues and expects a cross-section of Black leadership to assemble and provide “one united voice regarding the issues we agree on.”
Next week, nine well-credentialed and connected African American political and civil rights organizations, hosted by the National Policy Alliance (NPA,) will provide that platform in Washington, D.C. at a major Summit Jan. 17 through Friday, Jan. 18 at the Renaissance M Street Hotel.
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World is Watching US Presidential Race
By William J. Kole
Associated Press Writer
Germans are gaga over Barack Obama. He's got Japan pretty jazzed, too, along with Hillary Rodham Clinton. Russia's leaders, not so much: They prefer a Republican — as long as it's not Kremlin critic John McCain.
And Mexico's president? He doesn't have much use for any of them.
America's extraordinary presidential campaign has captivated politicians and ordinary people around the globe. With so much at stake in the race for the White House, the world is watching with an intensity that hasn't been seen since the Clinton era began in 1992.
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Mayor Adrian Fenty hosted the opening of the Sen. Barack Obama Office on Pennsylvania Ave SE Washington, amid many D.C. volunteers preparing for a Potomac Primary victory.
Volunteers stand outside and acknowledge motorist responses with signs of encouragement at the Sen. Barack Obama Office in on Pennsylvania Ave SE.
By Carla Peay
WI Staff Writer
It was shortly after midnight on Election Day when the crowds parted, and amidst chants of “Don-na, Don-na!!”, a beaming Donna Edwards walked to the podium at the Radisson Hotel in Largo to address her supporters. With 40% of the precincts in, Edwards was showing a 17% lead over incumbent Albert Wynn, and was declared the winner in a race that remained too close to call until the last moment.