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.

Keia Johnson, a 20-year-old political science major at Jackson State, said the importance of Obama's candidacy is not lost on her.

"We're in school in Jackson where we know so many struggles for civil rights took place. For us to be here doing what we're doing and for him to be doing what he's doing, it shows us that this is our America," she said.

"It's not just a place where we live," Johnson said. "It's a place where we can change things, make things happen."

White said Republicans in the state are as energized for McCain as Democrats are for their candidate. He said he has no worries that McCain's reputation as a moderate Republican will dampen turnout among social-conservative voters.

"The term conservative is a relative term," he said. Compared to Republican Gov. Haley Barbour, none of the GOP's candidates in the primary were as conservative, White said.

"I still have heard nothing that would lead me to believe that there is any Republican or conservative that has such a problem with Sen. McCain that they don't plan to vote," he said.

Democratic activists are not giving up on the state. Kelly Jacobs, a Democratic Party official in DeSoto County, which is located just inside the state line near Memphis, said county election officials were overwhelmed when 10,000 people voted in the Democratic primary.

Bush took 72% of the vote in 2004 in this heavily Republican county, so only 3,000 ballots were printed. "They just used plain paper in some places," Jacobs said.

Jacobs allows that a lot of the crush of voting came from Republicans who crossed party lines to vote for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton after appeals by conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh.

Even though Jacobs believes McCain will carry the state, she thinks a lot of voters in north Mississippi are enthusiastic about Obama.

"I think he will do very well," she said. "But it's the white vote he needs."

As far as the black vote, White said Obama does not have it completely locked up. McCain's social-conservative stands appeal to Mississippians of all races, he said.

A case in point is Cyrus Webb, 33, president of a small entertainment company in Jackson. Webb, a black, conservative Republican, plans to vote for McCain, but he said he often feels pressured to explain why.

"That is pressure that I feel every day," he said. "The difference between me and a lot of people is I can tell you why I am going to vote the way I do."

Webb's opposition to gay marriage is a big issue for him and one he believes is important to a lot of people in the black community who normally vote Democrat. Webb hosts a regular group discussion of young African Americans from around Jackson who debate politics and social issues.

In one session titled "Blacks and Obama: Vote of Conscience, Conviction or Color?", Webb challenged the other members of the group to defend their vote for Obama beyond racial identity.

"Why is Obama worthy of the black vote?" he asked. "What has he done?"

Shontale Watson, a local activist who runs a youth education program, said he believes the senator is a man of principle.

"From one brother to another, I support that," he said.

Joyner reports for The Clarion-Ledger in Jackson, Miss.