A Shift Toward Obama Is Seen Among Blacks

Amid Clinton signs put up by a beauty salon's owner in Charleston, Ethel Marshall said she backs Barack Obama. (By Linda Davidson -- The Washington Post)
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Clinton's campaign has relied heavily on Katie B. Catalon, Bell's sister-in-law and a retired beautician who heads the National Beauty Culturists' League, an 88-year-old organization of black hairdressers. Catalon has called hundreds of friends and former clients and has done nearly a dozen interviews with media outlets as far away as Japan, defending Clinton when she said it took a president to achieve many of the goals of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

"Because of gender and race, minds have gone back to 1952," Catalon told a television reporter from London during a filming in Bell's salon last week. "Like Dr. King said, we have to get past it."

Hammond is not much for politics, but in 2004, when she saw people her age going off to war in Iraq, she went to the polls for the first time and voted against President Bush. This year, she is looking for someone who will change how Washington operates. To her, no one speaks more directly to that desire than Obama.

"We need a change," Hammond said. "Something fresh."

Tiffany L. Brown, 35, a friend and fellow beautician, went with Hammond to vote four years ago. Brown is also a single mother, and the two face many of the same struggles. Hammond finds it a stretch to pay $203 a month for health insurance. Brown goes without insurance and owes about $10,000 for medical procedures.

Brown wavered for months between Clinton and Obama, until she saw a campaign ad in which Obama talked about his mother, who passed away at age 53 from cancer and worked to the day she died because she needed health insurance. Brown then decided to vote for Obama.

"He is very inspiring and very encouraging. He gives you hope. He makes you believe it is going to be better," she said.

And, she added with a smile, just in case anyone had any other ideas, "it doesn't have anything to do with the fact that he looks good."

Hammond was not impressed by Clinton's appearance on Banks's show last week. Banks was her usual chatty self, but Hammond thought Clinton sounded canned when she suggested launching a reality TV show to pick a title for her husband if she becomes the country's first female president.

"Here are some of the things that have been suggested, like 'First Mate,' " Clinton said on the show. "His Scottish friends say 'First Laddy,' but we need ideas. I'll just keep calling him Bill."

"It seemed like she was saying what you wanted to hear," Hammond said. "Obama seems more real, and whatever it is, I like it. We need something different."

Bell and her clients in Hair Menders also watched Clinton on the show and thought the senator was likable. But Bell said personality is beside the point. The problem, she said, is that young people just do not remember all the good Clinton has done.

"There is a generational gap," Bell said. "Most of them probably don't even remember Hillary Clinton's time when she was a governor's wife and first lady. They don't have any experience with it. They don't know."

Catalon remembers well. She has watched with some distress as young black women flock to Obama, excited by his youth and inspirational oratory.

"I'm not in this for a pep rally to feel good," said Catalon. "She is the only candidate that can be elected in November."

Bell said she is worried about a slowing economy, fewer customers and whether Social Security will support her in retirement. She thinks Clinton's experience, with an assist from her husband, is what the country needs.

"At my age, what are we going to do?" she asked.

Nevertheless, she is not altogether opposed to Obama. "After Hillary has completed her eight years," she said, "I would consider voting for Obama."