Obama voter registration drive targets Blacks, hundreds of thousands expected to register

By Jessica Bassett Of the St. Louis American
Thursday, August 7, 2008 8:16 AM CDT

Last week, Michelle Obama reached out to millions of African Americans to tell them about the importance of mobilizing and engaging in this year’s election.

One of those Obama supporters pounding the pavement is Lanear Rhodes, a real estate agent in St. Charles County.

“People have the mindset that St. Charles is a Republican area, but there are many people out here for Obama,” Rhodes said.

Rhodes is one of thousands of volunteers who will be armed with clipboards, voter registration cards and campaign literature as they knock on doors to drum up support for Illinois Sen. Barack Obama’s run for presidency.

The effort is part of Obama’s Vote for Change campaign, a national registration drive to bring millions of new voters into the political process. It is a strategic decision to boost the pool of voters likely to vote for his message of change.

Congressman William Lacy Clay, D-St. Louis and co-chair of Obama’s Missouri campaign, said he thinks Obama’s strategy could make a difference in Missouri and other swing states in November.

“No presidential candidate of any party has ever donated that amount of resources in Missouri,” Clay said referring to Obama recently opening 25 campaign offices in Missouri. “I am confident that that will help turn Missouri blue in November.”

One key to Obama’s registration drive is expanding the electorate by increasing the number of registered African American voters.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, out of 240,910 eligible black voters in Missouri, only 140,016 voted in the 2004 general election. Obama plans to target those 100,894 citizens in Missouri who either did not vote or were not registered.

“This historic election is about issues important to the African American community - issues such as renewing our economy, ensuring quality education for future generations, restoring the protections of civil liberties and affordable healthcare for all,” said Debbie Mesloh, spokeswoman for the Obama campaign.

Besides the likely increase in black turnout, Obama also expects a surge of young voters (college students) to help him compete in states that have been reliably red.

His campaign is also looking to engage Hispanics, suburban women, seniors on fixed incomes and people who have been disaffected by GOP politics who might respond to Obama’s message over presumptive Republican nominee John McCain.

Mesloh said the campaign has registered thousands of new voters in Missouri in the past two months.

She said volunteers are canvassing every weekend throughout the state and are expected to be out in full force during the Democratic National Convention (which starts Aug. 25) and the following Labor Day weekend. The last day to register in Missouri is October 8.

“We are targeting every single voter we can get to and talking about why this election is so important,” Mesloh said.

Steve Hildebrand, Obama’s deputy campaign manager overseeing the effort, told The Associated Press that the campaign has identified 55 million unregistered voters across the country. The campaign has found about 8.1 million unregistered yet eligible blacks, another 8 million unregistered Hispanics and nearly 7.5 million unregistered people between the ages of 18 and 24.

The campaign says their research estimates more than two-thirds would vote for Obama if they were registered and motivated.

But the keys in Missouri, especially for a Democrat, are to show up in rural Missouri.

Last week, Obama spent a day in rural Missouri making stops in Springfield, Rolla, Lebanon and Union and speaking on his plans to ensure economic opportunities for rural communities.

His strategy is to give family farmers opportunities to compete in the open market, ensure that rural areas continue their stance in the renewable fuels movement and improve health care.

Public polling has given McCain a slight lead statewide. But the Obama campaign has increased its presence in the state by opening 25 offices with hundreds of volunteers.

Obama is trying to mimic Sen. Claire McCaskill’s winning plan, when she sneaked past against Republican Jim Talent with 49.6 percent of the vote in 2006, and get beyond more traditional strategies that left Vice President Al Gore and Sen. John Kerry narrow losers in the 2000 and 2004 elections.

Kerry took 46 percent of the vote in Missouri in 2004, but in the three counties Obama campaigned in Greene, Franklin and Phelps, he won 37 percent, 41 percent and 36 percent, respectively. McCaskill didn’t win them either, but her 43 percent average was enough.

Obama is determined to prove that a Democrat can capture this bellwether state by winning over voters in small towns and urban centers. In St. Louis, offices have opened in Des Peres, South County, St. Charles and Midtown.

Rhodes cites her belief that Obama represents the best chance for steering the country in a new direction for her willingness to involve herself in the Obama campaign as an unpaid volunteer.

“I first saw him speak in Chicago at a summit in 2005,” Rhodes said. “That’s when I first became impacted by him.”

Rhodes has gone as far as Rhode Island, Vermont and Indiana to canvass for the freshman senator. Out of the campaign office in St. Charles, she will help with data entry, the phone bank and door-to-door canvassing.

“We just go wherever the people are,” she said of their registration efforts.