Obama won the black vote in 2008 by a landslide with 95% of their votes. However, voter turnout was also higher in 2008 than it is expected to be this year. In 2008 two million more African-Americans showed up to the polls than in 2004, but those numbers could be much lower for 2012. In 2008 there was a turnout of 87% from the black community as opposed to 76% who claim that they will be going this year according to a Gallup Poll.

“He’s got to worry about turnout. [Obama] doesn’t have to worry about losing votes to Mitt Romney. He has to worry about African-Americans not showing up in the record numbers that showed up in 2008,” claims Larry Sabato, Director of the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics.

Currently the Democrats are counting on the black vote to help tip the scales on several swing states in the election. These swing states include Virginia (with 20% of the voting population African-American), Florida (13%), Ohio (11%), and North Carolina (23%). In 2008 the black vote was key in Obama winning North Carolina and Virginia.

“In 2008, he [Obama] won North Carolina by about 14,000 votes,” Bill Randall, a black Republican and former Congressman stated. However he also claims that “support is waning… policies are not doing things that are going to spur economic growth.” And economic growth is important.

Currently 14.4% of African-Americans are unemployed versus the about 8% unemployment nationwide. This gap will significantly harm the President’s chances of garnering more voter turnout and support from the black community. Some have also claimed that the President is taking the black vote for granted, citing his absence at the NAACP conference as evidence. Frederick Harris, a professor of Political Science at Columbia University, stated that Obama “can afford to take the black voters for granted.”

Obama did send a pre-taped video addressing the NAACP stating “I stand on your shoulders” acknowledging their support and work. However this video did not prevent Romney from including a dig at Obama’s absence. “We have to make our case to every voter. We don’t count anybody out, and we sure don’t make a habit of presuming anyone’s support. Support is asked for and earned, and that’s why I’m here today.”

Benjamin Todd Jealous, President of the NAACP said that “if [Romney is] going to pick up more support in the black community he has to send a message that he’s prepared to lead on issues that we care about.”

One of these issues is voting rights. Jealous claims, “we are living through the greatest wave of legislative assaults on voting rights in more than a century. In the past year, more states have passed more laws pushing more voters out of the ballot box than at any time since the rise of Jim Crow.”

Romney has already previously announced his support for voter ID cards and other stricter voting laws. “I support efforts to say, look, we want people to come in and make sure they’re a citizen of the United States and that they haven’t voted multiple times and they’re not voting for someone who’s passed away.”

The Houston NAACP Conference that Romney attended was organized to discuss voter disenfranchisement including the new law in Texas that is expected to remove 600,000 people from being able to vote, most of them from minorities. According to USA Today the Texas law would also allow concealed handgun licenses to be used as a form of identification but not Student ID cards. Attorney General Eric Holder, who has been working to fight many of these new restrictive laws, claims that 25% of black voters do not have an ID card as opposed to only 8% of whites.

Pennsylvania has also introduced stricter voter ID laws that block 9% of the state’s residents from voting. More than 18% of registered voters in Philadelphia do not have an ID and the majority of African-Americans in Philadelphia also lack identification.

Hilary Shelton, Senior Vice President of the NAACP, has stated, “when proponents of these measures say this is a tool to prevent voter fraud, they’re missing the point. Most of the corruption that occurs is by polling officials – those who are put in place to protect and administer process. It’s not people pretending to be someone they are not.”

According to the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law Voter Fraud by individuals is exceptionally rare. Instead, most voter fraud issues are conducted by those running the polling places.

Image Courtesy of   Walter G Arce / Shutterstock.com

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On Wednesday, July 11 Republican Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney was booed at the NAACP conference when he stated that, if elected, he would repeal Obamacare. Romney’s statement was “I’m going to eliminate every non-essential, expensive program I can find, that includes Obamacare, and I’m going to work to reform and save.”

According to CNN Romney has currently garnered only 5% of the black vote as opposed to 87% that President Obama holds.

Romney’s attendance at the conference was somewhat of a surprise since Obama is expected to take well over 90% of the black vote in November. Romney stated, “with 90 percent of African Americans voting for Democrats, some of you may wonder why a Republican would bother to campaign in the African-American community, and to address the NAACP. Of course, one reason is that I hope to represent all Americans, of every race, creed or sexual orientation, from the poorest to the richest and everyone in between.” However, the New York Times has also speculated that visiting the NAACP will make Romney look more moderate to independents and undecided whites.

Romney’s speech was followed the next day by Vice Presidential Candidate Joe Biden. Although the President was originally scheduled for the event he was unable to attend because of a ‘scheduling conflict.’

Biden’s message, according to Politico, was that Obama needs the help of the black community to win the election and the Romney and the Congressional Republicans will and have been only harmful. Biden reminded the crowd about the NAACP and the voter ID laws that have arisen across several states. “Remember what this at its core was all about, why this organization at its core was all about. It was about the franchise. It was about the right to vote. Because when you have the right to vote, you have the right to change things.”

Biden also discussed Attorney General Eric Holder being held in contempt by the GOP-controlled House after he refused to turn over several documents related to Operation Fast and Furious. Holder has been a strong proponent of protecting voter rights and has stated, “in our efforts to protect voting rights and to prevent voting fraud, we will be vigilant and strong. But let me be clear: We will not allow political pretexts to disenfranchise American citizens of their most precious right.”

Biden also reminded the members at the conference about the lack of cooperation from the Republicans in recent years. “Almost never since he’s taken office did the Republican Congress reach across the aisle to help… The Republicans’ plan [was] not to get us out of this recession, not to promote jobs, not to do the things that needed to be done, but to make Barrack Obama a one-term president.” Toward the end of his speech the Vice President admitted that he was “preaching to the choir.”

Image Courtesy of  Gage Skidmore

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Republican Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney has called for an apology from the Obama campaign after several attack ads were released questioning Mitt Romney’s role in Bain Capital after 1999. Romney claims that he left the company he co-founded in 1984 in February 1999, in order to run the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics.

The Obama camp’s main charge comes from the fact that Romney’s name as the CEO and President remained on several documents from the company until 2002.

Romney stated, “I had no role whatsoever in the management of Bain Capital after 1999.” However, files given to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) clearly show that Romney was listed as the “sole stockholder, chairman of the board, chief executive officer, and president” until 2001.

If Romney truly had remained at Bain Capital it would mean that Romney had knowingly misfiled his official campaign disclosure forms which – according to Obama spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter – is a federal crime. Additionally, between 1999 and 2001 Bain closed down several American companies and helped others to send jobs overseas.

The Boston Globe reported that Mitt Romney earned at least $100,000 as a Bain executive in 2001 and 2002 besides the investments that he earned as sole shareholder. During 2000 and 2001 Romney listed his “principal occupation” as “Managing Director” at Bain. Additionally Massachusetts disclosure form from when Romney filed in 2003 says that he still owned 100% of the company in 2002.

Recently Romney has also been slammed by the Obama campaign because he refuses to produce more than two years of tax returns.

President Obama has claimed that if Romney is going to run on his business leadership at Bain then he should be taking responsibility of it, according to The Huffington Post. Obama stated, “Ultimately, I think Mr. Romney is going to have to answer those questions because if he aspires to being president, one of the things you learn is you’re ultimately responsible for the conduct of your operations.”

Rahm Emanuel, Mayor of Chicago and President Obama’s former Chief of Staff, has said that Romney needs to “stop whining.” Emanuel also stated, “you can’t say to the SEC, ‘I was the CEO, chairman and president, but I’m not responsible. I’m not accountable.’”

However several sources have verified Romney’s story that although he was still a part of the business on paper he was not actually involved in the daily operation of the company. FactCheck.org, a non-partisan website, says that there is no evidence that Romney had an active role at the company. Dan Primack, senior editor at Fortune Magazine, said that the documents given to potential investors in 2000 and 2001 did not include Romney’s name as an executive. Primack stated, “the contemporaneous Bain documents show that Romney was indeed telling the truth about no longer having operational input at Bain.”

Bain Capital issued a statement claiming: “due to the sudden nature of Mr. Romney’s departure, he remained the sole stockholder for a time while formal ownership was being documented and transferred to the group of partners who took over management of the firm in 1999. Accordingly, Mr. Romney was reported in various capacities on SEC filings during this period.” Ed Gillespie, the Senior Adviser to Mitt Romney also claimed, “he took a leave of absence and, in fact, he ended up not going back at all and retired retroactively to February of 1999 as a result.”

Although the claims that Romney was involved in the operations of Bain Capital during his time at the Olympics seem unjustified, there is still evidence that Romney was involved in outsourcing before he left to join the Olympic Committee.

The Washington Post claims that during the fifteen years that Romney was actively involved at Bain, the company owned other companies that spearheaded outsourcing; some of which include CSI and Modus Media.

Bain was involved in outsourcing as early as 1993 when Romney was still President of the company. In 1993 Bain was involved with Coporate Software Inc (CSI) and Stream International Inc that both specialized in helping companies find cheaper manufacturing for technology. Shortly after Romney left Bain in 1999 Bain became a majority shareholder in Stream.

Modus Media, whose majority shareholder was Bain Capital, helped outsource manufacturing for companies as well – before Romney left in 1999. In a press release from Modus Media in 1997 the company says that it expanded its outsourcing business with help from Bain stating, “working closely with Bain on strategic expansion.”

Therefore, although the Obama campaign claims that Romney was involved in Bain during his period at the Olympics seem unsubstantiated there appears to be evidence to show that Romney was still involved in out-sourcing.

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