Barack Obama supporters stand in the rain during a rally at the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, Va., in September
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Many political observers say Obama's campaign isn't doing enough to make sure that happens. The campaign has declined to discuss its black media outreach or even the basics of how it plans to get black voters to the polls, beyond one strategy it employed during several primaries: distributing flyers in salons and barbershops with large black clienteles. Rick Wade, the Obama campaign's senior adviser for black affairs, says simply, "African Americans are a crucial part of the Democratic base. They know what's at stake during the general election. We expect to see a tremendous turnout."
But black leaders say that's not a given. Among many black political observers, there is a pronounced sense that Obama's advisers have consciously distanced themselves from older black leaders who might galvanize prospective voters — especially in the many impoverished black communities where there is no tradition of voting as an obligatory civic duty. Ronald Walters, director of the University of Maryland's African American Leadership Center, says, "You can't send young volunteers into the hollows of Alabama, Mississippi and Florida with BlackBerries, reaching out to black voters, and expect them to do the same kind of job. If people knew Jesse [Jackson] or Al [Sharpton] was coming, thousands would come out and do what they needed to do — show up on Election Day." Walters contends that blacks could account for as much as 20% of the Democratic vote nationally, up from 15% in 2004. "For [Obama's advisers] to hold the black civic culture at a distance," he said, "there's going to be a cost."
Although the Rev. Al Sharpton has vigorously campaigned in North Carolina and Pennsylvania in recent weeks to motivate black voters, Sharpton says his efforts are "independent." In an interview with TIME last week, Sharpton said, "I'm doing it because I think it's right, because we're looking for Obama to be a crusader for social justice." But at the same time, Sharpton said, "You've got to use people that can draw a crowd. Otherwise, you're making this race a lot closer than it needs to be. You're not maximizing the enthusiasm of some of your base — which the right wing does well."
Much of the campaign's current effort to get black voters to the polls rests with grass-roots organizers like John Wyche, 50, of Pensacola, Fla. Wyche says he made an innovative suggestion to Obama's Florida campaign staffers that they ask pastors of predominately black congregations in Escambia County — which includes Pensacola and allows early voting on Oct. 26 — to have buses and vans ready after morning services to take congregants to polling stations. But the Obama campaign won't comment on whether it will take Wyche's advice — nor will it comment generally on suggestions that it is not doing enough to court black voters.