No Lock on Black Voters for Obama

Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., listens during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Iraq on Capitol Hill in Washington, in this Jan. 17, 2007 file photo. In wooing a faithful Democratic constituency, Obama must contend with Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, whose support in the black community runs deep, and John Edwards, whose progressive outlook and fight against poverty has won praise. (AP Photo/Dennis Cook, File) (Dennis Cook - AP)

"If you look at my black vote in my U.S. Senate race or my approval ratings back in Illinois, I feel pretty confident that once folks know who I am, then we will do just fine," he said.

Obama, 45, does not fit the familiar mode of King's generation of black leaders. He is biracial _ his white mother was from Kansas, his father Kenyan _ and was educated at Ivy League universities.

In his first of two best-selling memoirs, "Dreams From My Father," Obama said he couldn't even get in the door at national civil rights groups when he was younger. He wrote letters to them after graduating from Columbia University but said none responded.

And while many voters have warmed to Obama's themes of political reconciliation and national unity, analysts say the message may not resonate as clearly with black voters.

"Barack Obama might not be considered a black candidate for traditional black voters, given their history," said Ronald Walters, director of the African-American Leadership Institute at the University of Maryland. "Obama has talked about America wanting a new kind of leadership. What is he talking about? He hasn't defined that sufficiently."

Still, some civil rights leaders already are claiming him as a major step forward for black American leadership _ even if he didn't spring from their movement.

"Many are anxious to separate Barack Obama's campaign from the civil rights struggle, but that is not true," said the elder Jackson. "It's an extension of our struggle. His running _ you could draw a straight line from his campaign to our (voting rights) marches in Selma in 1965."

Yet Obama's background also makes him appealing to whites, said Carol M. Swain, a law professor at Vanderbilt University. "He's a black candidate, but he's not into invoking white guilt," she said. "He comes across as a consensus builder."

There have been just a handful of black presidential candidates. Among them: Sharpton and former Illinois Sen. Carol Moseley Braun in 2004; Republican Alan Keyes in 1996 and 2000; and Democratic Rep. Shirley Chisholm in 1972.

Other Democrats pursuing to 2008 nomination include former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich.