In some Nov. 8 editions, a photo caption with a Style article misidentified Massachusetts Gov.-elect Deval Patrick as Senate candidate Harold E. Ford Jr. of Tennessee. Also in those editions, the photo, which was taken by Charles Krupa of the Associated Press, was credited to another photographer.
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Red State and Blue, Reflected in Black and White
Ike Leggett, Montgomery County executive-elect: "You have to give credit to citizens who were prepared to vote across racial lines."
(By Lucian Perkins -- The Washington Post)
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Mississippi, the state with the highest proportion of black residents, at about 36 percent, is also the state with the highest number of black elected officials -- 892.
How many are in statewide office?
Democrat Barbara Blackmon, a black legislator, ran for lieutenant governor in 2003 against white Republican Amy Tuck. It said something that two women were competing for the office, but Blackmon got creamed.
Also, you might think Mississippi Republican Trent Lott might be vulnerable to a black challenger after that racial gaffe with Strom Thurmond, loss of power in Senate, etc., etc.
You would be wrong.
Yesterday he clobbered Erik R. Fleming, a Democrat in the state House of Representatives.
"A black official elected to statewide office would be a huge milestone for Mississippi . . . but it's just not going to happen soon," says Richard Forgette, chairman of the political science department at the University of Mississippi. "In counties where there are high percentages of African Americans, that's where black officials win. It's as simple as that."
Meanwhile, back at Leggett's party, people milled about sipping wine, munching crackers and cheese cubes.
"I don't know that we ever really thought race," said campaign manager Fran Brenneman, who is white. "Ike went to churches, mosques, temples and synagogues. It just didn't come up."
Leggett, working the room late last night, said the answer to his easy election was Montgomery County voters. "You have to give credit to citizens who were prepared to vote across racial lines. They began voting for me in 1985 and have known me ever since."
Geography, diversity, black candidates: America on election night, in search of a new theory.
