Roland Martin CNN : Ignoring white Dems in S. Carolina isn't smart

http://us.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/01/22/roland.martin/index.html

(CNN) -- Ever since we got into the thick of the presidential race, reporters, anchors, pundits, columnists and writers have spent a considerable amount of time on the fact that nearly 50 percent of the people who will vote in the South Carolina primary are black.

But for the life of me, I don't understand -- and have been literally screaming this fact on CNN, on my Chicago, Illinois, radio show and on every possible platform I have -- how we can focus on blacks making up nearly 50 percent of the voters, and absolutely, positively, unequivocally ignore the other 50 percent!

Being a black man, I don't mind talking about the nuances of black politics -- I've run three black newspapers, a black Web site and been the news editor of a national black magazine -- but I can also count. And to suggest that white voters are immaterial in South Carolina is nuts.

It has been so stunning that I can't even recall the last time I've seen journalists spend a lot of time interviewing whites. The stories have focused on black preachers, the tough choice facing black women, and whether young black voters come to the polls.

In some respects, there's a blackout when it comes to talking to white voters.