Of the NNPA
WASHINGTON (NNPA) – U. S. Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick (D-Mich.), the new chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, says her role will be to galvanize the clout of CBC constituents to help Democrats win the presidency in 2008 – in part, by using technology.
“That’s what it’s all about. It’s about 2008,” says Kilpatrick in an interview. “We represent 40 million Americans in 26 states. So, that’s an awesome database. We’ve got a great opportunity. And the technology is available. So, that will be my claim to fame. We’ve got a lot of work to do and we’re ready to do the work.
Kilpatrick, who succeeds Rep. Mel Watt (D-N.C.), says the 43-member CBC will now be strengthened through the use of cutting-edge technology.
“We want to establish a national Internet, Web cast, podcast, blog system where we are able to talk to each other – elected and appointed officials – as well as leaders and our natural allies, our national organizations and our ministerial groups,” she says. “We’ve got to maintain Democratic control of the House [the Senate] and [gain] the presidency; thereby you get your issues and your public policies and your resources back. We’ve had 12 years of an America with Republicans in charge – loss of jobs, big deficits, interest rates high, you name it, health care system in collapse. All of that has got to be changed and you have to have the presidency to do it. We’ve got 24 months to do the jobs and I’ll be working diligently to make sure that that happens.”
The Congressional Black Caucus, in its 35th year, has grown to a new level of influence. Three of its members now chair major House committees: Michigan Congressman John Conyers (the Judiciary Committee); New York Congressman Charles Rangel (Ways and Means) and Mississippi Congressman Bennie Thompson (Homeland Security).
Amaya Smith, spokeswoman for the Democratic National Committee, says beyond the CBC chairmanship and subcommittee chairs, key members are becoming powerful players in the presidential race because of their influence. That includes Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.), the new majority Whip.
“He is a member from South Carolina which is now an early primary state,” says Smith. “A lot of people are going to talk with him and have his ear over the next several months.
South Carolina, with a Black voting-age population of 31 percent, is the second primary in the country and the first primary in the South. The state is highly coveted for its potential Black voting power. Black voters in South Carolina make up 40 percent of the state’s Democratic electorate, the nation’s largest contingency of Black Democrats.
The courting has already started.
“I guess over the last year, I’ve talked to every one of them whose names have been mentioned,” says Clyburn. He says he had an hour-long meeting with Sen. Hilary Clinton in October, had lunch with Sen. Barack Obama two weeks ago and has had recent conversations with former vice presidential nominee Sen. John Edwards three or four times.
But Clyburn says it won’t be as much the intra-politicking between Democrats that will win in 2008 as it will be how Democrats as a party handle the crucial issues at hand and getting out the vote. Clyburn, a former chair of the CBC, applauds Kilpatrick as the right person for the moment.
“We all see her as having the right attitude as far as outreach and taking the message out of the beltway,” Clyburn says. “She’s been speaking that language for a long time. I look forward to working with her because I think she will maximize, not just the involvement, but the effectiveness of the Caucus.”
CBC leaders perceive that part of that effectiveness will be the funding of the Help America Vote Act (HAVA), which Conyers has said will be among his top priorities on the Judiciary.
“I think the more that we make the voting process fair, open and transparent, the better off we are as a nation,” says Clyburn. “If people don’t have confidence in the integrity of their ballot and the effectiveness of it, they tend to drop out of the system. The biggest we need to do is to make sure people’s voting rights are protected.”
Dealing with domestic issues that mean something to Black people may not be as easy as it appears, says University of Maryland Political Scientist Ron Walters.
“Kilpatrick is going to be a second majority whip because as chair of the Congressional Black Caucus now, she’s going to be in charge of 42 votes,” he says. “But she’s also going to be in charge of getting the agenda together the represents the interest of the African-American community, which will be difficult because she’s going to have the Blue Dog Democrats to deal with.”
The Blue Dogs are conservative Democrats who frequently vote with Republicans. Their clout increased from 37 to 44 in the November election. Even so, that’s just one member more than the CBC. And incoming House Speaker Nancy Pilosi is trying to straddle both ideological camps.
Kilpatrick says she realizes there are schisms in the party, but says she is optimistic they will work out.
“In the long run we will agree on more than we disagree on. I think you’ll see that as in any family,” Kilpatrick says.
Shoring up young voters will also be a part of the CBC agenda, says Kilpatrick, whose son, Kwame Kilpatrick of Detroit, was elected the youngest mayor of any major U. S. city in 2002 at the age of 31.
Kilpatrick says the CBC will make a concerted effort to recruit and galvanize constituents between the ages 18-40.
“We will work closely with young leaders around America so that they might be educated about what’s going on and how they can get involved politically, how they can set agendas for their own community,” she says. “It’s the young people who set the trends. I believe in getting them involved early. Then, our communities are better, our families are stronger; the body politic runs better.”
Kilpatrick says that the way the Democratic Party handles key issues will determine whether the Part reclaims the White House in 2008. One of those key issues is the war in Iraq.
“Five-hundred billion has been appropriated; $400 billion has been spent. Those are dollars that we needed in our communities,” she says. “And by the way, where is all that money? So, we’ve got a lot to deal with.”
Having just lost the battle for affirmative action in Michigan, Kilpatrick says Democrats must also find ways to counter affirmative action-foe Ward Connerly.
“Ward Connerly told us that he’ll be in five or six other states in 2008. So again our job is to educate,” she says. “My job is to coordinate and to work with and to get out into America and to mobilize and to educate our voters so that they know and so they will engage. So all of that will be happening over the next two years of my tenure.”