Newly-elected Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele flew to Los Angeles over the weekend for The Tavis Smiley Festival (better known as the annual โState of the Black Unionโ conference)โthe latest sign he is determined to tout the GOP to every black audience he can. He had pledged this during his campaign for the job, but I suspect the members of the almost all-white Republican National Committee did not expect their chairman to express his desire for โoff the hookโ strategies to woo young voters and look to reach voters in โurban-suburban hip-hop settingsโ as he told the WASHINGTON TIMES in a colorful if somewhat bizarre interview a few days ago.
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Is this good political strategy? Yes, but not for the obvious reason. With Obama in the White House, itโs hard to see the GOP making any gains in the black vote before say 2014, the next election in which Obama might not be a major factor. And in a pure numbers sense, it is unnecessary for victory; the problem for McCain in 2008 was that he lost ground among independents, Latinos, young voters and blacks compared to Bushโs performance in 2004. Gaining ground among those first three could get a presidential Republican candidate to victory even if Democrats win 96% of the black vote, as Obama did in November.
On the other hand, there is a good political strategy in actively trying to win black votes even if you donโt actually do so, the same way Obama is smart to keep asking congressional Republicans for their support even if he never gets it, because voters like attempts at bi-partisanship. I havenโt seen polling data on this, but my suspicion is that for people under 40 in particular who have grown up in a more racially-blended society, voting for a party that doesnโt seem diverse would be uncomfortable, even if they agree with Republican policy on key issues.
In short, at least trying to woo black voters might be integral for Republicans to get back the independents and white voters under 40 who they really need to win elections. Steele seems very sincere about wooing black voters, but weโll get a real sense of his strategy (and how other Republicans view it) when this yearโs gubernatorial elections in New Jersey and Virginia.
I have no doubt Steele will be making a speech at Hampton, but would the Republicans spend money trying to get votes in Newark?
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