Emails show Clinton campaign attention to black voters
WASHINGTON >> Hacked emails from the personal account of Hillary Clinton’s top campaign official show some of the attention her team paid to courting black voters.
There were worries about Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders’ appeal to that historically Democratic voter group. There was angst over whether Clinton should give a speech on race relations. Meanwhile, a South Carolina Democratic Party official voiced concerns that Clinton hadn’t visited a particular region of the state.
The emails were among hundreds released Saturday by WikiLeaks. The notes were stolen from the email account of John Podesta, the Clinton campaign’s chairman, as part of a series of high-profile computer hacks of Democratic targets that U.S. intelligence officials say were orchestrated by Russia, with the intent to influence the Nov. 8 election.
It was impossible to authenticate each hacked email that WikiLeaks published, but Democrats have openly acknowledged they were hacked and have not pointed to any specific case where an email was altered to inflict political damage.
SPEECH ON RACE
Clinton’s campaign debated whether she should give a speech on race.
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Her chief speechwriter, Dan Schwerin, emailed Podesta, communications director Jennifer Palmieri and others in February 2016 to say that, as conceived, the speech would demonstrate Clinton’s “sustained and comprehensive commitment” to improving race relations and her lifelong sympathy toward the plight of minorities in the U.S.
Both Bill Clinton and candidate Clinton were clear that the speech shouldn’t be “a big mea culpa,” but the former president also said “we shouldn’t try to defend the indefensible.”
Schwerin went on to say that adviser Minyon Moore had raised tough questions about the wisdom of making the speech because it could “unintentionally end up elevating questions that aren’t yet being widely asked and introduce new damaging information, especially super predator, to a lot more voters.”
In a 1996 speech about Bill Clinton’s crime bill when she was first lady, Hillary Clinton described young people in gangs as “super-predators.”
Some blacks find the term offensive and have sought during the campaign to hold her accountable for it. Hillary Clinton has said she regrets using the term.
After a “gut check” conversation with Moore and subsequent talks with policy advisers Jake Sullivan and Maya Harris, Schwerin says in the email that the campaign hierarchy is “mostly persuaded” by Moore’s concerns. Instead, a decision to push the Supreme Court nomination issue could replace the race speech.
Schwerin ultimately closes his memo with the idea that “if we’re slipping fast, maybe it’s worth rolling the dice and doing the speech. If we’re holding relatively steady, maybe we see if we can ride this out without doing the speech.”
Clinton offered a detailed plan to overcome racial disparities in a February speech in Harlem.
PEE DEE REGION
In an apparent effort to court young African-American voters in South Carolina’s Pee Dee region, Hillary Clinton staffers promised Jamie Harrison, the state’s Democratic Party chairman, that his area would not be overlooked by Clinton. They also offered up some bold names in black entertainment who could stump for votes.
In a Jan. 28, 2016, email, Brynne Craig, deputy director of State Campaigns for Hillary for America, summarizes a conversation with Harrison, who is unhappy that Clinton hasn’t visited the Pee Dee region, the northeastern corner of the state and about 100 miles east of Columbia, the state capital.
Craig says he assured Harrison that such a visit is a top priority for the former first lady, or her husband, former President Bill Clinton. (Clinton visited the region in late February and later won the state’s Democratic presidential primary.)
Craig says Harrison also mentioned the need to bring younger surrogates into the state, not just well-known, older politicos. He says he offered Harrison a partial list of black entertainers they’ve asked to travel to the state, including singer Usher, actors Anthony Anderson and Gabrielle Union, and athletes Alonzo Mourning and Grant Hill.
Craig says, “I feel confident we will be able to increase the amount of surrogates we have in South Carolina – more importantly the RIGHT kind.”
BERNIE SANDERS
Clinton’s campaign worried about Bernie Sanders’ appeal to black voters, a key Democratic constituency that Clinton counted on.
In a July 2015 email, Podesta frets to other campaign staffers about Sanders, who had challenged Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination all the way through to the end of the primary process.
The Vermont senator had built his campaign around an anti-Wall Street, anti-establishment message with strong appeal to progressives
In the email, Podesta says of Sanders: “He’ll be at Sharpton rallies pretty soon,” referring to civil rights activist Al Sharpton. “Still think we should do something with him on VRA Anniversary.”
Sanders visited Dallas and Houston in July 2015 for a series of town-hall meetings in Southern cities to help boost his support.
Clinton called in to Sharpton’s nationally syndicated radio show on the 50th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act on Aug. 6 to appeal to blacks to turn out to vote during the primaries. Her subsequent support among blacks in the South helped her gain a big delegate advantage over Sanders.
16 responses to “Emails show Clinton campaign attention to black voters”
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Clinton called Al Sharpton’s radio show……………. birds of a feather do flock together.
Al Sharpton’s unpaid tax debt is now more than $4.5 million, making him one of the biggest offenders in the country. Yet, for some reason, he hasn’t been sent to prison like other people have been, and should.
It appears blaming the white middle class, and having President Obama on speed dial can get you some “unannounced forgiveness” even for nearly $5 million and continued refusal to pay what you owe.
Didn’t the Obamas take care of race issues?
Not unless you consider deliberately and maliciously inflaming racial hostility to be in the category of ‘taking care’.
Super predators is on the point!
Clinton pays special attention to government dependants , for those love the handouts by Democrats and vote for them.
It may seem bad but does anyone think the Republican’s don’t discuss these issues themselves? Every speech and comment need to be filtered through their team as to not offend anyone or majority of the people as you can’t make everyone happy.
To be fair wikileaks should expose everyone’s emails but they don’t because it would equal out and Trump wouldn’t have ammo to use on Hillary.
There’s just so little in these leaked emails, not even right-wing media or Trumpzi fans here can say anything substantial against Clinton. Despite so many emails released, there are just a few instances of back-biting, political strategizing, etc. Nothing incriminating, everything nice and normal.
Now, if they could hack into Trump staffers’ emails, we might see some interesting conversations. I wonder if Trump is still using phrases like “rapists and murderers,” “grab them by the p—y,” etc. I wonder if some of his top aides have emailed each other, “Oh God, he said something stoopid again!”
If Wikileaks wanted to take down Trump’s candidacy, they could probably do it. But he’s doing a fine job of it on his own.
This is the normal back and forth discussions which happen during a campaign.
not even right-wing media or Trumpzi fans here can say anything substantial against Clinton.
“substantial”???
Surely you jest.
What a droll sense of humor you have.
Have you considered a career in stand up comedy?
Could you copy and paste any incriminating evidence from the article above?
Where are the critical posts by Trumpzis who can always find something negative to say if Clinton even sneezes?
Have you considered a career in tin foil hat manufacturing?
With or without wiki leaks, Don Trump has PLENTY of ammunition – – and all of it supplied in generous abundance by none other than Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton herself.
And you are mistaken about everything being filtered so as not to respond: Trump says EXACTLY what he believes, content to let the chips fall as they may. That is the key to his rousing enthusiasm in voters who increasingly realize that Democrats do all they can all the time to rig every election they can.
erratum:
“so as not to OFFEND”
vice
“so as not to respond”
/ my bad /
The windbag spoke at Gettysburg, claiming to make a “contract” with American people. Really??? Give it up Trumpters, we have a stranglehold on the WH. We can lie and cheat to do what it takes to win and there ain’t a single thing the GOP can do to stop us. By the way, thank you for supporting my family with your tax money. If you ask me, you working class aren’t paying enough to support people like me.
Mocking Trump for his new contract with America suggests basic ignorance of what happened in 1994 when Newt Gingrich unleashed HIS contract with America – – and the GOP took control of both chambers of Congress for the first time in forty years.
You wanna twist the tail of the dragon with such mockery, be my guest.
You can indeed lie and cheat to your heart’s content, but soon to be addressed as President-Elect Trump, he may have some surprises in store for you.
In any case, buckle up, Sportin’ Blood, cause this horse race is a long way from over.
Trump doesn’t have any quit in him and he did not get into this fray for the purpose of losing.
Oh really? Look, just to be fair, I watched the Hillary clean Donald’s clock at the debates. Did she lie or not answer the questions at times? Absolutely! We do have th media on our side and will only or spin in issue in our favor. Face it, we’ve stacked the deck in our favor and Trump cannot win. Look at the at sad sap from Vermont named Bernie Sanders. Did you see how he had no chance of winning? A CLINTON will once again reign supreme and the United States and the world will continue to be a much safer place.
Methinks Andrew is engaging in sarcasm.