Kerry Urged to Do More to Get Black Votes

Lack of Diversity Among Top Campaign Officials, Absence in Community Are Concerns

A month before Sen. John F. Kerry is to accept the Democratic presidential nomination, African Americans who are experienced in getting out the vote say the candidate has done little to energize a constituency that could help ensure his election.

Although the Massachusetts senator has many black supporters, civil rights leaders and academics are grumbling about his absence from black communities and a lack of top black officials in his campaign.

"You pick up the paper . . . and you see a picture where he's surrounded by all whites," Ronald Walters, a University of Maryland political scientist who helped run two presidential campaigns, said of Kerry. "That's sensitive to black Democrats. It raises questions about the lack of blacks and Hispanics in his inner circle."

Nine out of 10 black Americans voted for former vice president Al Gore in 2000, following a decades-long trend of crucial support for Democrats. A recent Washington Post-ABC News poll showed that Kerry has similar support among black Americans, but Walters and others said he must do more to make sure they vote.

"What [Democrats] usually do is wait until the last minute and try to stir up interest in the black community, which would be a serious mistake," said the Rev. Joseph E. Lowery, former president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in Atlanta and current chairman of the Georgia Coalition for the People's Agenda. "They tend to take us for granted."

Black Americans, Lowery said in a recent interview, are upset with the Bush administration for double-digit unemployment in their communities, poor schools in the era of the No Child Left Behind initiative and the billions of dollars being spent to fund the war in Iraq, which black Americans did not support, according to polls.

"As I travel around the country," he said, "I sense great frustration in the black community with this president, and they want to express their frustration at the ballot box. But I don't see Democrats taking advantage of that."

Lowery and other civil rights leaders questioned Kerry's familiarity with black voters. Over the years the Massachusetts senator has received high marks from the NAACP and National Urban League for votes that supported the civil rights agenda on such issues as welfare reform, judicial nominations and affirmative action, but he hails from a state without a significant black population, unlike Gore, who is from Tennessee, and former president Bill Clinton, who is from Arkansas.

Kerry has made traditional approaches to black voters, such as appearing at African American churches and giving interviews on black urban radio programs, including the popular "Tom Joyner Morning Show." But activists said he needs to do more. A source close to Kerry's campaign said his closest advisers do not understand the political dynamics of energizing black voters. They "haven't been sensitive to making him more visible in the black community," the source said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

Alexis M. Herman, labor secretary under Clinton and an adviser to Kerry's campaign, said she is confident that the candidate will address concerns of black Americans. "I believe that the negative comments we are hearing will be abated," she said. "At the end of the day, John Kerry's going to meet the test. He's going to have more of a neighborhood strategy."

Rep. Elijah E. Cummings (D-Md.), chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus and a staunch Kerry supporter, said, "The candidate is very sensitive to the African American community. He's constantly asking me what else can he do. I tell him to make sure we're prepared for the ground war. Television is nice, but it's the foot soldiers who count."

Marcus Jadotte, who is black, has been a deputy manager for the Kerry campaign for months. In a recent interview, he acknowledged that the campaign had been criticized for not including enough black people and said, "We have to do a better job of telling people we're here."

Devona Dolliole, a black public relations aide for the campaign, said Kerry is making moves that will counter that impression. Former presidential adviser Vernon E. Jordan Jr. became Kerry's lead debate negotiator last week. In addition, the campaign has placed several black Americans in prominent positions, including Art Collins as a senior adviser, Brian Burke as director of policy outreach and Rodney Shelton, Rodney Capel and Tony Wilson as state directors in Arkansas, New York and Missouri, respectively. Terry Edmonds is director of speechwriting.

But the second-guessing continues. It started around April, when Kerry seemed to be assured the Democratic nomination. At the time, Jadotte was one of the few black Americans in a senior position in the senator's campaign.