Here are the numbers:

 Democrats

Clinton 84,776 39% 
Obama 78,242 36    
Edwards 36,446 17    
Richardson 9,926 5    
Kucinich 2,931 1    
Gravel 303 0     

 Republicans
McCain 64,789 37% 
Romney 55,793 32    
Huckabee 19,643 11    
Giuliani 15,037 9    
Paul 13,623 8    
Thompson 2,108 1 

DES MOINES (Posted Jan. 3, 2008) – Miles of skywalk in downtown Des Moines help you combat the cold and negotiate your way around the city.  There is a collage of campaign buttons and candidate signs, and a voter enthusiasm for tonight’s caucuses is at a fever pitch.

One of those exuberant folks is Princella Smith, a 24-year-old who proudly sports the campaign of Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee’s (R ). Smith’s an African-American, a Republican and a native of Arkansas.  She told me that other Blacks should also take a serious look at him too.

“He’s got a lot of executive experience,” Smith said. The American people cannot be bought, and they can’t be fooled. He’s not trying to do either.”

Black folks and the Republican Party have a lot in common, she said, and they should at least consider him as an option.

  “The Republican Party is about ownership, leadership and individualism,” she said. “It talks about a message of improvement, and it’s very in-sync with African-Americans.”

Lori Mordini, from Des Moines, is supporting Delaware Sen. Joe Biden (D).  “I’ve always been impressed; my husband supported him in 1988,”she said.  Mordini went to see other candidates, but she said none came close to Biden.  “He spoke to my heart and gave detailed answers to every question – he brings the audience along.”

When you look at media reports, the race appears to only be about the frontrunners in both parties.  But I discovered, while driving around town, that the neighborhoods are peppered with placards for all of the candidates and that folks are wearing lapel pins for dozens of candidates.

Brendon Davis, 28 is from Washington, D.C.,  and he moved to Iowa for a month to help his candidate, Ron Paul.  Davis said his support for Paul is to protect his generation and his children’s from the reckless ways of Washington.  “Spending is out of control and he’s the only candidate who wants to restore good government and cut spending,” Davis said.

While we’ll have to wait for the results tonight, one thing is for sure: We don’t have a clear picture of who’ll win in either party.  

Do you think Blacks should take a look at more candidates in the Republican field?  Will you?

By Pamela Gentry, Senior Polticial Producer 

 Posted Dec. 18, 2007 –   Black ministers who have quietly met with the Bush administration at the White House regarding faith-based incentive dollars may now find politics from the pulpit risky business.  Their names and visits will now become part of the public record.
     A federal judge’s ruling Monday was a blow to the Bush administration, which had hoped to keep records private showing visits by prominent conservative religious leaders.

     The judge rejected the White House’s argument and ordered the information be turned over to Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, the liberal watchdog group that made the request.
     Early in the Bush administration, senior adviser to the president, Karl Rove, arranged several meetings with Bush and religious leaders to develop a “buy-in strategy” for Bush’s new faith-based incentives.
     Some folks agreed to meet because the meetings were behind closed doors and  their attendance and the topics discussed were not available for public consumption.
     Several well-known African-American pastors were included in one of the first such meetings in March 2001.  After the meeting, Bush told reporters, the ministers are “very crucial for helping change” their communities.
      “Many of those preachers are bishops over churches that have got great programs and change people’s hearts and provide hope in neighborhoods where there is no hope,” Bush said at the time. “So I view them not as agents of politics; I view them as agents of change.”
     Claude Allen, Bush’s former domestic policy adviser, along with Rove, arranged meetings with Black ministers, including the Rev. T. D. Jakes, of Dallas; the Rev. Kirby John Caldwell of Houston; and Bishop Eddie Long, of Atlanta.
     Some Black pastors were more public about their support: Caldwell delivered the prayer at Bush’s inaugural in 2005. But others were more low key and had hoped to keep their attendance at these pow-wows, hush-hush.
     That’s why Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington wanted to know who was meeting with the administration. They went to court to get the Secret Service to turn over visitor logs about nine conservative religious commentators, including James Dobson, Gary Bauer and Jerry Falwell, with whom the president met.
     Anne L. Weismann, the watchdog group’s chief counsel, told The Associate Press.  “The judge saw their arguments for what they were.”
     It will be interesting to see exactly which Black religious leaders met with the Bush administration over the last six years.

Pamela Gentry, Senior Political Producer

Posted Oct. 30, 2007 – It’s a statistical dead heat in Iowa between the two Democratic frontrunners.

In fact, Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) and Barack Obama (D-Ill.) are running so close in Iowa that they’ve both decided to make the Midwest state their new home for awhile. 

Tonight they’ll be in Philadelphia with the other Democratic presidential candidates to participate in a live television debate. 

The stakes get higher each time the candidates square off.  Tonight, I’ll be watching to see if Obama can hit a homerun.  He’s overdue and can’t let another opportunity go by.    This week, he stepped up the heat on Clinton by openly attacking her plan for Social Security. Social Security may not be a sexy topic, but it’s the kind of issue that has given Obama some traction in early primary states.  He accused Clinton of failing to delineate a clear plan on how to fix the program.
 
I’ve been to Iowa for the caucuses,  and traveled with candidates across college campuses, corn fields and church services.  Campaigning in Iowa is no joke, and folks there aren’t always predictable.  You have to earn their support the hard way, one vote at a time.
 
The University of Iowa Hawkeye poll, released on Monday, showed that among likely Democratic caucus-goers Clinton was slightly ahead of Obama, 29 percent to 27 percent.  If you know anything about polls, you know that’s a statistical draw. Obama started running a new television ad in Iowa in which he says, “I don’t want to just put my finger out to the wind and see what the polls say. I want to bring the country together to solve a problem.”

Tonight, folks will be waiting to hear just how he plans to do that.  

Posted Oct. 4, 2007 – President Bush kept his word to Congress and the American people when he shot down a bill Tuesday that would have renewed and expanded health insurance for poor children. 

The veto was no surprise, but the political fallout might be. The White House sent a tsunami of e-mails explaining how bad it would be if this bill were signed into law and the state-federal partnership insurance program was expanded to cover more children.

In a statement from the White House, Bush said, “The policies of the government ought to be help poor children and to focus on poor children.  And the policies of the government ought to help people find private insurance, not federal coverage.”

Bush maintains the expansion that would include up to 10 million children (the cost of which is equivalent to what the United States spends in for 41 days in Iraq) and take the nation’s health care system in the wrong direction. 

 “I believe in private medicine, not the federal government running the health care system,” Bush said.   He wants Congress to come back with something covering fewer children and costing less. 

The reaction from Sen. Edward Kenney’s (D-Mass.) was forceful.   “Today we learned that the same president who is willing to throw away a half trillion dollars in Iraq is unwilling to spend a small fraction of that amount to bring health care to American children,” Kennedy said.
 
The Senate has the two-thirds votes it needs to override Bush’s veto. But it’s not clear whether the U.S. House of Representatives has the  votes it needs. But House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) remains hopeful. “I call on my colleagues in Congress to join the broad bipartisan consensus of senators, representatives, governors and advocacy groups who want to improve the quality of health care that America’s children receive and override the president’s veto,” he said.

The Democrats postponed the vote to override the veto until Oct. 18, which may give members time to take the pulse of folks in their respective districts.  Republicans are worried the veto is a kitchen-table discussion item that could hurt them at the polls in 2008.

 But the real pain may be felt by the 10 million children and their families who will be without health care.

By Pamela Gentry, Senior Political Producer

Posted Sept. 24, 2007 – On Wednesday, more than 20,000 folks will come to Washington to attend the four-day conference “Unleashing Our Power” hosted by Black lawmakers.
The 37th Annual Legislative Weekend will be jumping, from the opening prayer breakfast to evening networking receptions and gatherings around town.  This is also the week Hollywood kicks it with the Capitol Hill crowd.  This year is no different; actors Lou Gossett, Victoria Rowell and Gabriele Union will join music producers Quincy Jones and Russell Simmons,  adding their voices to issues they care about.

There are a couple of big changes in store for regular attendees.  The two biggest differences: Folks attending the conference will be charged a small entrance fee, and lobbyists will not be able to give tickets to their events directly to a member’s office. 

The reason for the admission fee is simple.  Charging folks attending the workshops, town hall meetings and policy pow-wows will allow the foundation to raise money for scholarships, fellowships and internship programs.  But folks close to the planning are worried this change might not be well-received.  

The other change is a direct result of the new ethics laws passed by the Democratic majority this year.  The new law won’t allow lobbyists to give tickets to their events to a member of Congress.  Now tickets from corporate partners will be donated to and distributed by the foundation.  

This new system will make it difficult for members to invite specific guests from their districts.  This is just one of several new obstacles facing lobbyists under new ethics laws.

Delegate Donna M. Christensen (D-V.I.) and Rep. G. K. Butterfield (D-N.C.) are the co-chairs of this year’s Legislative Weekend, and Rep. Kendrick Meek (D-Fla.) is the caucus foundation president.

 Meek told BET that he wants folks to get motivated so they’ll get busy when they return home. We’re “not just talking about congressional power; we’re talking about the power of the participants of the conference, unleashing our power back home,” he said. 

Do you think Obama can win the nomination?  

Read and respond.

Aug. 7, 2007 – In a poll released today, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) is falling further behind his chief rival, Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) for the Democratic presidential nomination.

  What’s going on? 

The poll taken by USA TODAY/Gallup Poll finds Clinton’s lead over the Illinois senator has risen 8 percent in the last three weeks.  Clinton is now 22 percentage points ahead with 48 percent of likely Democratic voters thinking she is the better choice.
Obama has been getting some flack from pundits since he remarking in the last Democratic debate that he would speak with leaders who are known enemy’s of the United States. But I don’t think that’s the only reason for his falling numbers. 

Let’s face it; his numbers were rising as he became better known. Now folks are deciding if he’s the candidate for them.  It’s early in the race, and poll numbers will continue to go up and down whenever candidates say something compelling or stumble.  

The latest numbers should be a wake-up call for Obama’s team.  He’s out there, and he’s got to start running without the “rock-star” status and the mystique that surrounded him when he first stepped onto the national scene.

Clinton also realized that he’s the man to beat, and she’s being more forceful against her opponents, including Obama.  Now we’ll have to see how Obama will fight back. 

Mark Penn, Clinton’s chief strategist, told USA Today, “People are seeing her as the one ready to be president.” 

Obama’s spokesman, Bill Burton, said, “National polls may go up and down before people actually start voting, but their irrelevance will not.” 

Both candidates are heading to Las Vegas this week to speak at the convention of the National Association of Black Journalists.  I’ll be there and along with my colleagues to hear what they have to say.  

I’ll keep you posted.

Posted July 24, 2007 – Last night as the Democratic presidential candidates faced off I was wondering if supports were evaluating their performance as well. So I decided to check with members of the Congressional Black Caucus to see how they thought their candidate faired.

Rep. Danny Davis, (D-Ill.) likened Barack Obama’s performance in terms of baseball, telling me, “I think he did well - he didn’t hit a home run – but every time he steps up to the plate he’s a threat.”

Before the debate pundits were speculating Obama was going to be “edgier” – in other words go after his colleague Sen. Hillary Clinton (D – N.Y.).

Davis said, he held his own, “On balance not only did he hold his own, the positions he was willing to take indicates he would be good under fire.”

Rep. Edolphous Towns (D-N.Y.), a Clinton supporter, was pleased with his presidential pick as well. “I thought she did very well and sounded very presidential, and I thought she addressed the question upright and upfront – I’m delighted she’s in the race,” he told me.

Towns said Clinton’s response to leading the country forward set her apart from the others. “I think the things she’s about are the same kinds of thinks I’m about and I feel should happen,” he said.

We’ll get to see them a few more times before anyone has to decided on making a choice, so based on these Davis and Towns evaluation, I’m going to call this one a draw.

Will Their Effort Force Pres. Bush to Change Course in Iraq?

Read and Post Your Thoughts

 Posted July 17, 2007 - Democratic Senate and House members are going to burn the midnight oil and hold an outdoor vigil like those held in the 1970’s in protest of the war in Vietnam.

Tuesday night the chamber will remain open as members of the senate filibuster on a bill that would shift the role of the U.S. military to counter terrorism and training of Iraqi troops.  But that won’t be all – the Upper Senate Park will also host war veterans, military families and anyone else who wanting to join the call for a new plan of action in Iraq.
  
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) wants to force Senate Republicans to allow an up-or-down vote on the Levin-Reed Amendment to the Defense Authorization bill, with language that will also reduce U.S. troops in combat.

Reid laid the ground work for tonight’s events from the Senate floor, saying “The American people deserve an up-or-down – yes or no – vote on this amendment.  A ‘no’ vote on Levin-Reed would be a vote to ‘stay the course’ – to continue the President’s failed strategy indefinitely.  A ‘yes’ vote would finally bind the President to responsibly reduce combat operations and return our focus to the real and growing threats we face.”

Senators are signing up to make floor speeches throughout the night.  Sen. Barack Obama didn’t do too bad; he’s scheduled to hit the floor Wednesday morning at 6:00 a.m. -  just in time for the morning news shows.

Pamela Gentry

Senior Political Producer 

Posted July 16, 2007 – Last week, the war topped every headline, and experts and pundits debated what strategy would put the United States in the “win” column. 

I haven’t heard much on how Black folks feel about it. 

President Bush said last week, after updating Congress on the progress in Iraq, that “those who believe that the battle in Iraq is lost will likely point to the unsatisfactory performance on some of the political benchmarks. Those of us who believe the battle in Iraq can and must be won see the satisfactory performance on several of the security benchmarks as a cause for optimism.” 

Chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chris Van Hollen blasted the president for digging in on a failing strategy.   “More than six months into the troop surge, it is clear the president’s Iraq strategy is not working – more than 3,600 American troops have been killed and thousands more have been injured; U.S. taxpayers are spending $10 billion a month; and the Iraqi government has failed to meet the agreed upon political, economic or military benchmarks.”

The African-American members of Congress are also frustrated with Bush’s insistence on staying the course.

What do you think?