Very good points Tony..it is a little twisted this time around!
S
-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Anthony West
Sent: Thursday, May 03, 2007 9:47 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [UC] RE: Bob Brady Supported by Bored Carpenters
There's no doubt you're largely right about both race and TV, Sharrieff.
But I do see signs the latter factor is weakening as a vote-driver in
2007.
It's not clear who's supporting Nutter now, after his TV blitz, but his
early grassroots support base was largely white. Knox has clearly
nibbled away a chunk of man-on-the-street Black voters.
At the level of peers in the political process, Fattah has picked up
endorsements from a few majority-white unions and professional groups.
Evans has rock-solid support from most fellow state legislators,
regardless of race. Brady enjoys real (as opposed to titular) backing
from half the city's African American ward leaders, I'd say, and his
massive union base is far from being the lily-white bastion it was 20
years ago. And Knox just picked up a most interesting ally in West
Philadelphia's Blackwell clan.
When it's one white guy against one Black guy, then yeah, everybody
roots for the home team. But a five-man race starts to break that down.
It is pleasant to see this. When the numbers turn into concrete on May
15, we'll want to see how far deracializing actually went.
As for the TV -- no such progress on that front. Increasingly, people
vote for what they see on the tube.
-- Tony West
From: S. Sharrieff Ali <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Well.what I am hearing is the voters are looking at race and not
qualifications or agenda,
and yeah-buddy it pretty much has worked that way on both sides for
quite some time!
Most voters couldn't tell you anything about the candidates other than
what they have heard
on a TV commercial. I made a few hundred calls for Chaka Fattah in a few
wards and many
voters were undecided, couldn't name all the candidates, hadn't done any
research, and if
they picked a candidate..they had a superficial reason for doing so.
What does that say about the process? The mayor's election is a
popularity contest among
a bunch of uninformed voters driven by TV ads and race (color).
<http://www.aol.com?ncid=AOLAOF00020000000437> AOL.com.
