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Is the Clinton Campaign Suppressing the Black Vote?

3:03 PM, May 1, 2008 • By BRIAN FAUGHNAN
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Gee, I thought only Republicans did this:

A D.C. advocacy group called Women's Voices, Women Vote is being accused of waging a high-tech voter suppression campaign, after voters in predominantly black districts in North Carolina began receiving automated phone calls implying that they hadn't properly registered to vote in the upcoming Democratic primary...

On Wednesday, the women's group acknowledged making the calls, but dismissed the charges of voter suppression. President Page Gardner said the calls were an extension of a legitimate voter-registration drive that the group began in July 2007. In that effort, the group mailed out some 3 million authentic voter-registration cards, after placing automated calls telling residents to expect them.

How believable is the claim that this is part of a legitimate voter registration effort? Well, if you were conducting a real voter registration effort, would you make the calls anonymously via robocall, and would you do it after the registration deadline?

And just who is Women's Voices, Women Vote? I wrote about it over here some months ago. It's an organization created last year by a number of high profile alumni of the Clinton administration, to drive up the female vote. I wonder why they'd suddenly be expanding into registration of African-American voters, after it's too late to vote in the primary?

The Obama campaign will latch onto anything that might help stall Hillary's momentum in North Carolina--and this issue should work just fine. Can't anyone here play this game?

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