Bush Team Will Try To Win More Black Voters

The White House Bulletin October 7, 2004 Thursday

Copyright 2004 Bulletin News Network, Inc.


Buoyed by new polling that shows Sen. John Kerry struggling to win the majority of African-American voters that went for Al Gore in 2000, the Bush campaign is developing a plan to woo more blacks to the GOP side.

Campaign officials said that the Bush team would do that by promoting its tax cut proposals for small businesses, many of which are owned by blacks and other minorities. "Ours will be an economic message," said an administration official. New polling finds that support for Kerry among blacks has dropped from 83 percent in August to 73 percent now, while Bush's numbers have doubled to 12 percent. Bush advisers said that while the number backing the President is still small, the lack of support for Kerry could cost him the presidency. Bush officials said that their pitch to the black community is that the Democrats take their vote for granted and that the Kerry campaign is making no drive to woo them. In fact, the Republicans are ridiculing the Kerry campaign's appointment of Rev. Jesse Jackson as a senior advisor, and even the choice of music during the Democratic Convention where singers like Carole King were featured. "Talk about out of touch," said one Bush insider, who suggested that Republicans have reached out to younger black leaders for help and featured modern black artists as the GOP convention. -- Bulletin exclusive from U.S. News