DNC's Tim Kaine Talks Community Outreach, Mid-term Elections With Black Bloggers
Friday, September 17, 2010 at 8:30AM 
Democratic National Committee Chairman Tim Kaine pushed the continued diversity of Congress, defended President Obama's record and spoke on the importance of the 2010 mid-term elections Thursday, saying that Obama has a "very, very determined opposition to weaken this president" and that Democrats must "hold onto the majority" in Congress to continue his agenda.
"Our elected bodies don't look how America looks," Kaine said. "The heavy lifting is on Democrats shoulders to do that."
During the Congressional Black Caucus' Annual Legislative Conference this week, Kaine met with several bloggers to talk about the Democratic Party's outreach to the African American community, blacks in social media and the mid-term elections on Thursday.
Voter turnout in a non-presidential election year is always low. It's even harder if you're the party in power. Add a turbulent economy and high unemployment, and you've got a lot of disgruntled voters on all sides. Conservatives are energized about mid-terms, but struggling with populist upstarts in the form of ambitious, fiery "Tea Party" backed candidates challenging the established GOP candidates. For Democrats the problem is an unenthusiastic, depressed base. And even though Obama's popularity in the black community continues to be extremely in in the 90 percent range, there's a real fear that many black voters will not turn out in big numbers at the polls in a non-presidential, mid-term election.
Kaine said there 15 million voters who never voted before during the 2008 Presidential race and five million of those first-time voters were African American. One of the concerns about those five million is whether or not these voters would become Democratic voters OR if they were simply "Obama" voters.
He insisted that the majority of those new voters were likely Democrats.
"They're definitely Democrats ... A lot of the 15 million were voting because they had a desire for President Obama to be elected," Kaine said, adding that many new voters who supported Obama did not declare any specific political affiliation. "How do we include them in DNC activities when they don't define themselves that way?"
At the blogger presser, Kaine also discussed the DNC's faith outreach to the black community, as well as its network of volunteers that are going door-to-door to get out the vote among those who voted for the first-time ever in the 2008 Presidential Election.
Reader Comments (3)
It is irresponsible on Kaine's part to be peddling the snake oil ideas that our legislative bodies should mirror the racial makeup of our population. That has never been what America was about but is sadly typical of the Dems entitlement philosophy. I fund it amusing that some Dems seem to worship MLK but only give lip service to his ideas that your character should matter more than you skin color. If Kaine is trying to rally support in the black community surely he can come up with a better idea than some silly idea that will never happen.
I think it is wise for the Democrats to be concern with the African American Base. I think in the past many African Americans felt like voting in national elections was a waste of time because most of the white politicians could care less about our economical concerns or what goes on in our communities. I think with the Election of President Barack Obama, many blacks have woke up and are seeing just how mess up and hateful SOME white Americans are as we sit here and watch the treatment of our Black President. I think that alone is enough to get his black base fired up.You just don't hear it because it is around the water coolers, beauty salon, and barbara shops, community news media, hospitals that keep on cable news media for their patients to watch. Many might not be blogging because as statistic show, many are unemployed and poor. Many do not have computers to blog and some cannot afford cable so that they can eat and pay their utilities but that does not mean they will not come out and vote or they do not know what is going on.
I have not voted in many years and this was my first in a long time. I did not vote for the president because he is black but because I felt he might care about what is going on in our communities because he knows about our struggles and can identify with the black communities. I am happy with the work he has done. Before he was president I was broken. Left my job because I just could not accept the discrimination that I had to endure just to have a job. I was able to go back to school for training in the health care field thanks to the presidents policies and have been employed now for 1 year and just got a raise. I appreciate his fight to pass bills that now have helped expand and open up new health care centers, education and training that have brought jobs to our communities. I have registered as a democrat and will be voting and encouraging all my family and friends in my community to vote democrat and tell them why it is so important for the President to continue bringing this country forward for all Americans including us. All this hate against different groups of people by the GOP is not popular among the majority of voters today.
Concern for the base is one thing but advocating something that will never happen is another.