Obama Election Watch

Bad news! Barack Obama is now presented with an opponent who could siphon off some black votes in a number of key battleground states. A week ago Cynthia McKinney, a black woman who served six terms as Congresswoman from Georgia, secured the Green Party nomination for president of the United States.

In effect, McKinney has hijacked the Green Party nomination and used it to advance her political agenda. McKinney’s radical and anti-white platform has little to do with environmental issues that have traditionally been the focus of the Green Party. Instead, she has announced a militant 10-point “Power to the People” manifesto which in part calls for reparations for slavery.

Few environmentalists will be persuaded to support the McKinney presidential bid. But what is of major concern is that McKinney may attract a small number of black voters to her ticket. Any black votes that McKinney does attract will almost certainly come from the Obama column with the net effect of helping John McCain. (Click Here to Read More)

There is a possibility that Libertarian candidate Bob Barr could pull enough votes from McCain in Georgia to tip the state to Barack Obama.

Due to the GOP’s razor-thin victory margin of 537 votes in the 2000 Florida presidential election, it is clear that the third-party candidacy of Ralph Nader drew enough votes away from Al Gore to tip the state — and the presidency — to George Bush. Nader received 2.9 million votes nationwide and 97,000 votes in Florida.

Nader is running once again — the fifth time he has thrown his hat in the ring for the nation’s highest office. But many liberals who initially admired Nader’s commitment to environmental issues, good government, and his stance against corporate greed, now tend to view his five-time candidacy as something of a joke. Also, Barack Obama has solid support from the left wing of the Democratic Party, from which Nader drew many of his votes in 2000.

Few political observers give Nader much hope of pulling significant numbers of votes away from Obama. Nader is perceived by many voters as an ineffective Don Quixote burdened by a big dose of personal narcissism. Therefore, when the Nader campaign is brought up by reporters or in a debate, Obama’s best strategy is to treat Nader with respect and acknowledge his contributions to society. But generally ignoring the Nader effort, when at all possible, is the prudent course of action.

But unlike Nader, the candidacy of Bob Barr as the standard bearer of the Libertarian Party could possibly offer Obama an opportunity, particularly in Barr’s home state of Georgia. Barr represented Georgia in the U.S. House of Representatives as a Republican for four terms from 1995 to 2003. He is well known in the state and highly regarded by many white conservatives. (Click Here to Read More)