Obama Wins Mississippi: CNN & AP (Questionably) Say Race was a Factor

by D. Cupples |  Barack Obama won the Mississippi Democratic Primary, in which about 400,000 people voted. Here are the results, according to CNN:

............. % Votes...... # Delegates

Obama.......60%..................17

Clinton.......38%..................11

CNN said that Mississippi has the highest proportion of African Americans of any state in the nation and that race was a factor in today's primary:

"As has been the case in many primary states, Obama won overwhelming support from African-American voters. They went for him over Clinton 91-9 percent. See the results

"The state has a larger proportion of African-Americans (36 percent, according to the 2000 census) than any other state in the country. And black voters make up nearly 70 percent of registered Democrats.

"But Mississippi white voters overwhelmingly backed the New York senator, supporting her over Obama 72 percent to 21 percent.

"According to The Associated Press, only two other primary states were as racially polarized -- neighboring Alabama, and Clinton's former home state of Arkansas.

"The exit polls also indicated roughly 40 percent of Mississippi Democratic voters said race was an important factor in their vote, and 90 percent of those voters supported Obama."

It's surprising that CNN even mentioned race in the context of today's primary, given the recent uproar over former vice presidential candidate Geraldine Ferrarro's clumsily suggesting that Sen. Obama's success in the primaries had something to do with race -- and Ferraro's even more clumsy defense of those remarks.

The Associated Press also mentioned race:

"Obama was winning roughly 90 percent of the black vote [in Mississippi] but only about one-third of the white vote, extending a pattern that carried him to victory in earlier primaries in South Carolina, Alabama, Georgia and Louisiana."

Curious about the accuracy of the Associated Press's statement, I checked CNN's delegate estimates for those four states and Mississippi.  Here's the breakdown:

.........................Obama           Clinton

Alabama .............27....................25
Georgia  ..............61....................26
Louisiana.............34....................22
Mississippi...........17....................11
South Carolina.....25....................12

Total...................164....................96

I don't know what conclusions could be drawn from those numbers.  A lot of Caucasians have voted for Obama.  He won Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Wyoming, for example, which I understand to have had large proportions of Caucasians participating in the Democratic primaries.

At any rate, I enjoy constructing tables -- except when the spacing gets a mind of its own and goes out of alignment. 

An interesting point that's rather off track: Mississippi has not voted for a Democrat in the general presidential election in 32 years.

Memeorandum has commentary.

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