Clinton and the Black Vote

While the Democratic primary action continued in Nevada, a not insignificant event was happening in the Michigan primary. The primary was not valid because the Michigan Democratic party skirted party rules and scheduled their primary too early--thus they were stripped of delegates. Obama and Edwards pulled their names off the ballot, leaving only Clinton.

The embarassing thing for Clinton was that while she won an uncontested beauty paegent primary, 40% showed up to vote uncommitted, including 3% who claim they would vote for her (if that makes any sense). That's quite a statement.

Then concerning the Black vote. Here's this from CNN's poliltical ticker:

CNN) — Hillary Clinton faced a grim statistic in Michigan Tuesday night,
despite her primary "win" there: results revealed that she may have reason to
worry about her grasp on the African-American vote.

The Michigan primary vote was essentially meaningless: the national party stripped the state of its delegates because it held its contest too early in the election season, and Clinton was the only major Democratic contender whose name appeared on the
ballot.

Even so, roughly 70 percent of Michigan’s African-American voters — a
group that makes up a quarter of Michigan’s Democratic electorate — did not cast
their votes for Clinton, choosing the “uncommitted” option instead. Yet these
voters weren’t uncommitted at all: in fact, according to CNN exit polls, they
overwhelmingly favored Barack Obama, whose name did not appear on the
ballot.

Had Obama’s name been on the Michigan ballot, CNN exit polls show
that he would have won an overwhelming 73 percent of the African-American vote,
in contrast to 22 percent who say they would have voted for Clinton under those
circumstances. If South Carolina’s large African-American community votes as
Michigan’s, Hillary may not be feeling much ‘southern hospitality’ in that
state.