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Ahead of debate, Huckabee's claim of black support questioned Thursday, Sep 27, 2007 By Aaron Sadler Stephens Washington Bureau WASHINGTON - Proudly and often, Mike Huckabee cites his success attracting black voters in Arkansas as evidence he can draw minority support to his campaign for president. Huckabee maintains he drew 48 percent of the black vote in his 1998 gubernatorial bid and made key appointments of blacks to state boards and commissions. While experts acknowledge Huckabee reached out to minorities like few other Republicans during his decade as the state's governor, they say he may be overstating his support among black voters. Jay Barth, a political science professor at Hendrix College, openly questions Huckabee's 48 percent claim. Barth said in a book he co-authored that the exit polling used to substantiate the percentage was a small sample not validated by precinct-by-precinct data. The 1998 polling was presented in a book by Matthew Streb, now a professor at Northern Illinois University. Streb on Wednesday said he agreed the results may be incorrect. "I stand by the fact that Huckabee did well among African-Americans," Streb said. "Did he actually do 48 percent, which is what the exit polls show? That's questionable." Barth said it's more likely Huckabee gained 20 percent of the black vote in 1998, his first try for a full term against Democrat Bill Bristow. Streb said Bristow was not a strong candidate, which may have contributed to Huckabee's success among blacks. In Huckabee's 2002 re-election bid against Jimmie Lou Fisher, Barth said the governor's efforts to draw black voters gave him "breathing room" in a close race. There is no specific estimate of Huckabee's vote tally among blacks that year, but the former governor said his total was "probably close to that" of 1998. Both academics agree that Huckabee made a concerted effort to reach out to blacks, and that seems to be the same effort carrying him into tonight's Republican presidential debate. Huckabee is scheduled to participate with just four other GOP hopefuls in a debate that focuses on minority issues. The event in Baltimore begins at 8 p.m. and will be broadcast on PBS. The four leading Republican candidates will not be at the debate. Former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, former Sen. Fred Thompson of Tennessee and Sen. John McCain of Arizona chose not to attend. Critics have said the four so-called "top tier" candidates have turned their backs on the black community. Earlier this week, Huckabee also criticized the quartet. "I can only surmise they're afraid they don't have a message that works for minority voters," Huckabee said. "The reality is, I've always had strong support from minority voters." A Southern Baptist minister, Huckabee used his religious background to build support in the black community. Stacy Williams, a Little Rock-based political consultant, said Huckabee could easily duplicate his statewide success on a national scale. "He breaks the traditional mold of the Republican in trying to persuade African-Americans to vote for him, and that's what he did in Arkansas," Williams said. "African-Americans are pretty much like anybody else, if you advertise them or target them and solicit their support, you're going to be successful." He praised Huckabee for being the only Republican to meet with the National Urban League board at its recent meeting in St. Louis. Huckabee's campaign Wednesday said the governor targeted minorities in his home state with the creation of the "Play it Again, Arkansas" program, which provided used musical instruments to underprivileged children. In the last five years of his tenure, 535 blacks were added to the state payroll, according to the campaign. (Records regarding minority employment in state government are not available prior to 2001, the campaign said.) Blacks made up 12 percent of Huckabee's 3,035 appointments to boards and commissions, according to the campaign. State Sen. Irma Hunter Brown, D-Little Rock, said Huckabee did a "fair job" in terms of appointments, but there were some glaring omissions. Particularly, blacks were not represented on the Arkansas Highway Commission or the Game and Fish Commission, Brown said. "What you think of are the high profile commissions instead of the ones that are not as highly recognizable in their work and position in the community," she said. On one of those high-profile bodies, the University of Arkansas Board of Trustees, Huckabee drew flack from the black community in 2002 when he appointed a white man to a post previously held by a black man. According to an article in "The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education," Huckabee was blasted by black leaders for the pick. It would have been the first time in three decades that blacks were not represented on the UA board. Five days later - when it was discovered that Huckabee's selection would have violated a rule preventing more than three people from a congressional district from serving on the board - he withdrew that appointment and chose a black replacement. Brown said she was not aware of any decision, either positive or negative, that affected Huckabee's standing with minorities. "I think generally, as a person, he was one who spoke well," she said. "But then, in terms of actual policy, given something that would truly support the minority community in terms of equality and justice, I certainly can't think of anything highly significant." Williams disagreed. He said Huckabee was as progressive as the late Gov. Winthrop Rockefeller and on equal footing with Bill Clinton in terms of assisting blacks by putting them in state jobs and on state boards. "I do believe that the facts will bear out that Huckabee went beyond (Clinton) in employing key African-Americans on his staff and administration and also in appointing them to boards and commissions," Williams said. |
