Blacks undecisive of supporting Obama

NEW YORK: A vast majority of black officials here are facing a dilemma on lending their support to presidential hopefuls Hillary Rodham Clinton or Barack Obama, the only black politician in the race.

A significant number of officials said they are undecided about whether to back Clinton or one of her main rivals for the Democratic nomination, Senator Barack Obama, a New York Times report said.

The officials described themselves as impressed with the strength of Obama's campaign in recent weeks, saying it reflected a grass-roots enthusiasm for the senator that many noticed among black voters in their own districts.

The report said this could signal trouble for Clinton, forcing her to devote more attention to her home state, where blacks made up 20 per cent of the Democratic primary vote in 2004.

Facing a potential drift of black support, the paper said, the Clinton campaign has recently taken several steps, including former President Bill Clinton's speech before black and Hispanic lawmakers in Albany earlier this year, and then an address to the Rev. Al Sharpton's group, the National Action Network in New York last week using Bill Lynch to corral black support in New York City.

Many black New York officials have strongly supported Clinton, not to mention her husband, starting with her first Senate campaign in 2000, when she was still in the White House and had only just established residency in the state.

But these officials were quoted as saying by the report that it had become increasingly clear to them that Obama, who has barely campaigned in New York, is no mere flash in the pan, and seems to possess the public approval ratings and campaign war chest needed to compete in a presidential contest.

"I would have supported Hillary if it were not for Barack Obama," the paper quoted Assemblyman Adam Clayton Powell IV, a leading figure in Harlem, as saying.

"He can identify with my African-American community in a way that no other candidate can."

Assemblywoman Crystal D. Peoples, who represents Buffalo, and who has been contacted by one of Clinton's top political lieutenants, said she was similarly divided.

"It's a very difficult decision," Peoples said.

"I'll really do a lot of soul-searching on this one."  The vacillation among black leaders in New York, the report said, was all the more striking as neither Obama nor his advisers appeared to be spending much, if any, time in the state trying to round up their support.

Indeed, many of the leaders interviewed said they had not heard from Obama or officials in his campaign, though the state had moved its primary to the first Tuesday in February from the first Tuesday in March, the report said.

Obama, the report said, even turned down a recent invitation to address the New York State Legislature's black and Hispanic caucus.