Russell Chapman wrote:
I think a Powell candidacy would have increased voter turnout among blacks dramatically. I think that African Americans often feel disenfranchised by the ballot choices and Powell would have changed this. I think Dan made a good point in that the Republican nomination would have been a more difficult hurdle than the national election simply because of his centrist politics.
I was thinking (and expecting everyone to have really long range telepathy) of the effect on black voters. Could he have reasonably expected a big turn out from the African American voters to vote just to put a black man in the office? I'm guessing that in America it is just as important to get your supporters to the booths as it is get supporters (whereas the first part happens automatically in Australia).
Personally, the choice between Gore and Powell would have been tough.
Does anybody remember the California Gubernatorial race between Tom Bradley (African American mayor of L.A.) and George Deukmejian in 1982? Bradley, who was very popular in L.A., led in the polls consistently right up to the day of the election. He was ahead by something like 6% the day before the election, but he lost by a very small margin (this is all from memory so the numbers may be a bit off) In any case, it made me wonder if there was a race component that only kicked in when people actually went in to punch the ballot. Were we unable to overcome our racism, however latent, when it came right down to choosing a leader?
Doug
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