[RALEIGH, NC] With less than five days before the historic Nov. 4 presidential election, what role will North Carolina indeed play in helping to elect the first African-American Commander-in-Chief ever?
And can the black vote in this state really make the difference?
Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee [D-Texas] says North Carolina and the black vote here are key to any national victory that Sen. Barack Obama has next week.
And if indeed the first-term Illinois senator wins the election with North Carolina, she adds, the significance will be undeniable.
“The excitement of North Carolina being a pivotal player in the 2008 election with great opportunities for a new president of the United States, Barack Obama, the energy of the NC Democratic Party; a very, very active Democratic ticket with a US Senate race in play; the governor’s race being in play…frankly I believe that North Carolina is a state to watch,” Rep. Jackson Lee, a New York City native, told The Amsterdam News in an exclusive interview during her visit to Raleigh last Sunday.
On Wednesday, Obama held a massive Early Voting rally on the Halifax Mall Government Complex in downtown Raleigh, where he urged thousands of enthusiastic supporters not to wait, but march to the polls now before Election Day for the change they want.
The candidate’s wife, Michelle Obama, was also in the state Wednesday, holding an Early Vote for Change rally in Rocky Mount.
Sen. John McCain, Sen. Obama’s Republican rival, urged voters in Fayetteville Tuesday not to believe the polls that have Obama ahead, but vote him and running mate Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who campaigned in Asheville on Sunday.
Rep. Jackson Lee said all eyes are definitely on North Carolina.
“What state has every single major office on the ballot? It really will be the test whether a state like North Carolina will turn blue, blue, blue,” the seven-term congresswoman continued. “This is a great opportunity, and a great deal of excitement for the people of North Carolina.”
Indeed, beyond the race for the White House between Obama and Sen. McCain, North Carolina voters have a ballot brimming with hot races.
While Obama currently leads the Arizona Republican by an average of 2 points in the Tar Heel state, compared to at least six in most national polling, voters here must also decide who will be the next governor, and the next US senator between Republican incumbent Elizabeth Dole and Democrat challenger State Sen. Kay Hagan, among others.
All of the Democrats in the North Carolina statewide races are doing well, especially with 58 percent of the early voting turnout thus far being Democratic.
At presstime Wednesday morning, early voting figures from the NC Board of Elections (NCBOE) continue to defy past elections.
Of North Carolina’s 6,220,485 registered voters, 1,623,107 total absentee ballots, or 26 percent, were cast as of 9 p.m. Tuesday evening.
Of that number, 1,479,270 were One Stop Early Votes, NCBOE records show. And, as The Carolinian first and exclusively reported last week, African-American female Democrats continue to set the pace beyond all other groups in early voting.
Black female Democrats, as of Tuesday, have balloted 244,310 in One Stop Early Voting alone.
White female Democrats, the next strongest voting bloc, trail with 240,659. White male Dems are next at 166,864, while black male Democrats are right behind with 148,974.
There are more women than men overall registered to vote in North Carolina, NCBOE records show.
Black male and female Democratic One Stop early Voting combined adds up to just over 393,000 ballots cast since Oct. 16. Overall, African-Americans in the state are comprising almost 30 percent of the total vote thus far, well over their 22.5 percent population in North Carolina.
Congresswoman Jackson Lee was pleased, particularly with the news of black women voting in such heavy numbers, presumably for Sen. Obama.
“I think they see a moment in history that will help change the world,” she told The Amsterdam News.
“I think they see, in Senator Barack Obama a real transformational figure, someone that can stand as a role model for their young children, but at the same time be firm as a commander-in-chief, and lead the nation in reforming its educational system. They see something in it for themselves. But it is not a selfish vote. That is what this march towards the polls is all about. The idea of change, that will really result in changing lives.”
“If he is to win the presidency of the United States, it means [most] Americans have bought into the fact that we are different,” Jackson Lee continued. “We’re better than what we were years back; better than what we were in the last eight years; we are Americans who are good and thoughtful people, ready to lead the world.”
As a young college student during the 1970’s, Rep. Jackson Lee once worked for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, driving down “the dark roads” of the Carolinas, Georgia, and Alabama, registering people who lived on plantations to vote.
She looks back now on that work, and the work of Dr. King and the 60’s civil rights movement, and is moved by how that struggle and sacrifice built the foundation by which this historic presidential election came about.
“We’re seeing a colorless vote [for Obama],” Jackson Lee said. ” So what we really see, and what’s exciting me, is …here we are, 40 years after Dr. King’s death, allowing America to turn the corner after some of its lowest moments these past eight years, and be the implementators of the dream for all of America.”
Rep. Jackson Lee said that her predecessor to Congress, Rep. Barbara Jordan, once said when asked what do African-Americans want, answered, “The same as what other Americans want – America’s promise.”
Jackson-Lee says what blacks want from this election is a well thought out comprehensive energy policy, which not only promotes environmentally safe oil drilling, clean coal, natural gas, renewable energy sources like solar and wind, but also provides training and jobs for African-Americans.
Blacks “must demand” with their votes improvement of the public school system with better teachers and adequate resources to provide “an excellent education.”
African-Americans also want improved healthcare to address rising rates of diabetes, HIV/AIDS, heart disease, cancer and access to affordable universal healthcare insurance.
Rep. Jackson Lee says blacks must also vote to “restructure” the criminal justice so that it not only fairly punishes those who commit crimes, but also rehabilitates those who deserve a second chance.
Given how African-Americans are voting in North Carolina thus far, Rep. Jackson Lee says the hunger for change is definitely in the air.
“The African-American population is really helping North Carolina to be that North Carolina really is,” the Texas congresswoman said.
“So actually I think North Carolina is a bellwether state, a state that can set the tone. With [black and other diverse voters], and voting as high as they are voting, I think what North Carolina can show America is not only that change is coming, but a new America is coming where states are no longer down South or up North, [but] states are just simply America, wanting the best for their families.”
“I look forward to living in a time when we can actually constructively work as a Congress with a solid majority and a president, if all goes well on November 4th, to work to make America greater and greater,” Jackson Lee said.