Back in the bad old days in Alabama George Wallace spoke sneeringly, but effectively, of “the block vote,” which was a transparent euphemism for black votes. One of the saddest ironies of the dramatic progress since then is that now — not just in Alabama but across the nation — blacks really do vote as a block, regularly delivering 90% and more of their votes to Democrats.
An interesting article in today’s Washington Post by veteran reporter David Broder reveals, through a detailed look at South Carolina, just how completely the predictability of “the block vote” (my phrase, not Broder’s) has eliminated the need for either party to campaign for black votes. Both Republicans and Democrats agree that their success depends entirely on their ability to attract a certain percentage, which they also agree on, of the white vote, as evidenced by the following comments from a hotly contested state legislative district:
“I need 78 percent of the white vote to win,” said Owens [the Republican].
“I need just more than 20 percent of the white vote,” said Bailey [the Democrat].
How sad.
