Below the fold on the front page of the October 15 edition of the Washington Post was a rather fascinating story out of Ferguson, Missouri, about how young black voters in the St. Louis suburb are considering casting at least one vote on the ballot this November for a Republican.
Post staff writer Sandhya Somashekhar delivered the scoop you are very unlikely to find noted on race-obsessed MSNBC. Here's a relevant excerpt (emphasis mine):
FERGUSON, Mo. — Darren Seals experienced waves of disbelief and anger after Michael Brown’s death, but two months later, he has found a way to channel his emotions: Focus on changing an elected leadership that seems deaf to the concerns of African American residents like him.So on Nov. 4, the 27-year-old assembly-line worker and hip-hop musician from a deeply Democratic community plans to take bold action. He says he will vote for a white Republican.
“Just because they’ve got the D next to their name, that don’t mean nothing,” said Seals, who lives a few blocks from where a police officer shot Brown. “The world is watching us right now. It’s time to send a message of our power.”
Many African Americans in Ferguson and across St. Louis County, angered over their leaders’ response to the fatal shooting, say they will be taking their outrage to the ballot box and voting against a Democratic Party that has long been their automatic choice.
They are focusing on the St. Louis county executive’s race, which typically centers on matters such as the budget and sanitation but this year has become caught up in the unrest.
Earlier this month, a coalition of some 20 African American Democratic leaders called a news conference to endorse the GOP candidate, state Rep. Rick Stream. Armed with voter registration forms, activists like Seals have been roaming black neighborhoods urging people to vote for anyone but the Democrat.
The plan is not only to beat back a local candidate they view as particularly unfriendly to black residents, but also to present a show of force to Democratic leaders all the way up to Sen. Claire McCaskill and Gov. Jay Nixon. By switching their allegiance in this election, these African Americans hope to demonstrate that their votes should not be taken for granted.
Ted Hoskins, the mayor of nearby Berkeley who has endorsed Stream, rattled off a series of slights and sins. They range from the governor’s decision to back the controversial prosecutor in the Brown case to the Democratic Party’s anemic support for the incumbent county executive, a black Democrat who was ousted by a white challenger during the August primary.
By no means should this be mistaken as a lasting, seismic shift in electoral allegiances, although if a Republican were elected and did govern in a way which combined common-sense conservatism with winsome outreach to the black community, that would be a promising development which could pay dividends in the long run.
Of course, it is unlikely Stream will win in such a hugely-Democratic stronghold. But that being said, it does go to show that Republicans and conservatives can make inroads in the African-American vote with the right combination of outreach and positive campaigning and with black voters' frustration at being taken for granted by the Democratic Party.
Kudos to the Post for reporting this and giving it prominent placement in the paper. Don't, however, expect Ms. Somashekhar to appear on Al Sharpton's MSNBC program anytime, and not simply because he'll butcher her last name.
