History on GOP side in Miss. presidential vote

JACKSON, Miss. -- It was like something out of a movie about Mississippi, the kind of scene that frames the state in historical terms of race and politics.

About 100 students and some faculty members had gathered in the student center at Jackson State University, a historically black university, to watch Sen. Barack Obama accept the Democratic nomination for president on a series of televisions hung around the room.

During one of the night's down moments, local Democratic organizers lowered the sound on the sets and held a question-and-answer session. The crowd quieted as 9-year-old Taylor Carr, son of the university women's basketball coach Denise Taylor, took the microphone.

"I want to know if Barack Obama will be in my history book next year?" he asked the organizers.

A number of people in the audience assured Taylor that, yes, Obama would be in his history books. But if he does become the nation's first African American elected to the presidency in November, it's not likely Mississippi will be the reason.

While an American Research Group poll conducted in Mississippi in mid-September showed Obama with 88% of likely black voters in his camp, the same poll showed Republican nominee John McCain with 55% of the overall vote and 85% of the white vote.

Mississippi has not voted for a Democrat since Jimmy Carter in 1976. In 2004, President Bush took 59.5% of the state's popular vote against Democrat John Kerry. Brad White, executive director of the Mississippi Republican Party, said it is a safe bet that Mississippi voters will choose McCain in November.

"He's got overwhelming support," he said. "We can't keep enough material in our office from bumper sticker and signs."

U.S. Census data shows that African Americans in Mississippi take the right to vote seriously. One in three Mississippians is black, the largest percentage of any state, and they vote in large numbers. In 2004, 67% of voting-age blacks cast ballots, compared to 60% for whites, the data shows.

Only three states — Illinois, Kentucky and Missouri — had a higher black turnout in that election, Census figures show.