McClatchy: More blacks than Hispanics may vote in Texas Democratic primary

More blacks than Hispanics may vote in Texas Democratic primary
By John Moritz | McClatchy Newspapers

* Posted on Thursday, February 21, 2008



AUSTIN, Texas — Although Hispanics outnumber African-Americans in Texas by 3 to 1, more blacks than Hispanics may turn out to vote in the state's Democratic primary on March 4 because they're fired up about Barack Obama.

The emergence of Illinois Sen. Obama as the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination has generated more excitement among African-American voters than leading black Texas Democrats have ever seen. And if, as they suspect, black voters turn out in greater numbers than do the Hispanics whom Hillary Clinton's counting on, her hopes for victory could be crushed.

"This year, it is a force of nature that doesn't appear to need a whole lot of help from people like me," said Ron Kirk, a former Dallas mayor who in 2002 became the first African-American in Texas to win a major-party nomination for the U.S. Senate. "The black vote is going to turn itself out."

Rep. Marc Veasey, an African-American Democrat from Fort Worth and Houston Rep. Garnet Coleman, the chairman of the African-American Legislative Caucus in Texas, expressed the same sentiment. All three support Obama.

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It was poor planning on Hillary's part to think she could carry the hispanic vote. She seems to be losing ground on that demographic to Obama.