Obama and Clinton chase black vote in Alabama

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article2323392.ece

It is the new battle of Selma, unfolding in the Alabama town where a historic march in 1965 was a turning point in the struggle for civil rights in the Deep South - but this time pitting Hillary Clinton against Barack Obama for the electoral prize of the United States' black vote in 2008. A 42nd anniversary is not normally one that would merit special treatment.

But that calculation changed last week for the Clinton campaign with a poll showing that Mr Obama, the young African-American Senator for Illinois, had moved ahead of her among African-American voters, who could be pivotal in key Democratic primaries.

Mr Obama announced weeks ago that he would attend Sunday's events, speaking at a black church and taking part in the traditional annual march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge outside the city, where police wielding tear gas and bullwhips violently dispersed an attempted march by activists on 7 March 1965.

Now not only will Mrs Clinton go to Selma herself. She is also wheeling out the most powerful weapon in her armoury: her husband. Bill Clinton - so popular among African-Americans that he has been described as "America's first black President" - has abruptly change his weekend plans, deciding to travel himself to Selma, where he will be personally honoured later in the day at a local civil-rights ceremony. As a result, what was once a routine and little-noticed anniversary has been transformed into another instalment of the fierce battle between Mrs Clinton and Mr Obama.

Hillary led Obama among blacks voters something like 60% to 20%. There were a lot of explanations for this along the lines of the Clintons' traditional support from the black community and that no one should expect blacks to automatically support another black, just based on his or her race.

What has changed since then? Now the same poll shows Obama ahead 44 to 33. I try to follow all the candidates fairly closely and haven't noticed what Obama has done to appeal particularly to the black community. Is it mostly just people getting used to a fairly new face and liking what they see?

Policy positions aside, a big caveat here at DU I know, I like the idea of either a black or a woman as president. I is just interesting to me how momentum can change in politics so quickly without major events, as far as I know, being involved.