Presidential Elections

Stanley O. Williford  |   OW Editor
Aug 9 2012

Insights into the Latino vote in the November election

Our Weekly Editor Stanley O. Williford sat down recently with Los Angeles Mayor Villaraigosa at Getty House, the mayor’s mansion, to get an assessment of the Latino voting population’s feel for President Barack Obama. Villaraigosa is national co-chair of the re-election committee, chairman of the Democratic Party Convention and outgoing president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors. As we look toward Hispanic Heritage Month (Sept. 15-Oct. 15), it is interesting to note that Latinos, with a U.S.

Julianne Malveaux  |   OW Contributing Columnist
Jul 19 2012

Counting the cost

Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.) has been away from Congress on medical leave for so long that his colleagues have been clamoring to know what’s wrong, and NBC’s Andrea Mitchell reported that the Congressman was receiving treatment for addiction.

The truth, according the Rep. Jackson’s staff, is that the Congressman is being treated in a residential facility for exhaustion and mood disorders.

Jul 19 2012

Has the president forgotten his political base?

 In 2008, the presidential elections cost a record-setting $2.8 billion. To win that election, Barack Obama spent $740.6 million, eclipsing the combined $646.7 that George W. Bush and John Kerry spent four years earlier. Obama’s spending accounted for 44 percent of all the money spent in that campaign.

A Wall Street analyst projects that 2012 spending for ads across all media will easily surpass the $2.8 billion mark.

Anthony Asadullah Samad, Ph.D.  |   OW Contributing Columnist
Jun 26 2009

Why Barack took the money (and I’m glad he did)

Much ado (about nothing) has been made about Barack Obama becoming the first Presidential candidate to reject public financing of Presidential elections (and the $84.1 million spending limit that comes with it) since it started in 1976. Mainly that Obama reversed himself on his position as a supporter of campaign spending limits and a previous stated commitment to take the public financing. This was a no-brainer as far as Barack was concerned.

Across Black America

Here’s a look at African American people and issues making headlines throughout the country.
 

Alabama
Freeman A. Hrabowski, president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, will address the annual African American Business Council luncheon on June 28. Hrabowski, who is chairman of President Barack Obama’s Advisory Commission on Education Excellence for African Americans, has a national reputation for his work studying the performance of minority students in math and science. Hrabowski, named one of the 10 best college presidents in the country by Time magazine, was a child leader in the Civil Rights Movement in Birmingham in the 1960s.
 

Arkansas
The Liberty Counsel filed a motion and a brief in United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas seeking to intervene on behalf of a Concepts of Life crisis pregnancy center to defend against a suit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Reproductive Rights. The groups seek to impose a permanent injunction before the Human Heartbeat Protection Act goes into effect July 18. Liberty Counsel also filed a brief opposing the ACLU’s request for an injunction. The “Heartbeat” bill states that when a woman seeks an abortion at or after the 12th week, doctors must test for a fetal heartbeat before an abortion is performed and inform the pregnant mother that the child in her womb has a heartbeat. If a heartbeat is detected, a woman cannot have an abortion, except in cases of rape, incest, and if a mother’s life is in danger. “As we promised when the legislation was introduced, Liberty Counsel will defend this law without reservation for the people of Arkansas, born and pre-born,” said Matt Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel. “No right is more foundational than the right to life. Without life, all other rights are irrelevant,” concluded Staver.