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Likewise, Clinton has repeatedly made a big display of his familiarity with black culture, whether it be black music, black churches, black icons or having black friends. And yet the president's embrace of black people and black issues was never as prominent as during the impeachment scandal. Jackson was transformed from Clinton nemesis to spiritual advisor only after he had gotten in trouble over the Monica Lewinsky matter. He made a vaunted trip to Africa and apologized for America's role in slavery, to applause from many blacks, but again the trip was taken at a time when his political fortunes were sagging in the face of impeachment. And the fact that his personal secretary, Betty Currie, is black, and so is his best friend and confidante, Vernon Jordan, didn't seem like great news for black people when both became starring players in the impeachment drama.

Still, the combination of comfort with black cultural trappings, his many black appointments to cabinet-level or sub-level positions and the roaring economy has won Clinton plaudits from most of black America. It doesn't render Gore unassailable, but wresting black support from the vice president will be an uphill battle for Bradley. Fifty-one percent of black voters say they are better off now than they have ever been, and they thank President Clinton for that.

The polls reflect his popularity, which is rubbing off on Gore. They show Bradley to be no more than a blip on the black radar screen. A June poll taken for the Joint Center For Political and Economic Studies, a black-politics think-tank, showed that 42 percent of the black electorate does not know anything about Bradley. That same poll shows that blacks who have heard of Bradley don't think he's such a bad fellow (40 percent). But that's the extent of the good news for Dollar Bill.

It seems the major black constituency Bradley is courting is retired basketball stars, from Michael Jordan to Bradley's former Knicks teammates Willis Reed and Walt Frazier. White former players like Bob Cousy and Phil Jackson, now the Los Angeles Lakers' coach, also give him financial support. So does Spike Lee, maybe because Bradley once played for his beloved Knickerbockers. But the vast majority of blacks and black leaders are with Gore, according to David Bositis, a senior analyst with the Joint Center.

Bositis acknowledged that Clinton was not very well known by blacks, either, when he started out in 1992. But he noted that Clinton had a key base of support in the South, and the South is Bradley's weakest region. His strongest base of support among blacks is in places like New York, Chicago and California. According to Bositis, Bradley must make inroads among rural blacks as well as those who live in Memphis, Atlanta and New Orleans.

"California and New York may be high-profile, but that's not where the black vote is," Bositis said. The majority of that vote (55 percent) is in the South.

It's not too late for Bradley to win the black vote, but with well-meaning speeches that make no promises, it could be a challenge.

When Bositis is asked how he measures Al Gore's support among blacks compared to Bill Bradley's, he says the phrase that comes to mind "is the sound of one hand clapping."
salon.com | Aug. 11, 1999

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