COLUMBUS, July 25: Presidential candidate John Kerry on Sunday courted the black vote, a major Democratic constituency that polls show he has yet to excite, by assuring churchgoers he shared their "common future, hopes and dreams."
The Roman Catholic senator from Massachusetts visited the nondenominational First Church of God in Columbus where Bishop Timothy Clarke told an overwhelmingly black congregation of more than 2,500 that he would not endorse Kerry or President George W. Bush, but urged his parishioners to get out and vote.
Kerry's introduction drew a protest from one member who stood and shouted, "Sit down ... you big phony," before he was hustled out clutching a Bible. At the third stop on his trek to the Democratic convention in Boston where he will be formally nominated as Bush's opponent in the November 2 election, Kerry quoted scripture, black poet Langston Hughes and President John Kennedy.
"It is written, what does it mean my brother if you have faith if there are no deeds? Faith without works is dead," he said, a subtle slap at Bush without mentioning the president's name.
Kerry described his own candidacy as a "brief fragile moment that God gave us on earth to make a difference." "This is our journey, not my journey," he said. "I came here this morning to praise his name and share with you our common future, our humanity, our hopes and our dreams."
The Democratic candidate has won around 90 per cent of the black vote in recent presidential elections, but at issue is how many members of that key constituency Kerry can turn out.
Opinion polls have shown that Kerry, a blueblood New Englander who attended private schools, graduated from Yale, volunteered for the Vietnam War and has served almost two decades in the Senate, has yet to excite his African-American base.
LITTLE ENTHUSIASM: A BET/CBS News poll of 986 black Americans released last week found that Kerry led Bush, the Republican incumbent, by eight to one, but a majority had yet to feel a great deal of enthusiasm about their candidate. Most said they were just "satisfied" having Kerry atop the ticket.
Democrats are hoping a higher minority turnout, coupled with support from working white families, will help land southern states such as Florida in the Democratic camp and tip northern industrial states such as Ohio, Michigan and Pennsylvania in their favor.
Most Democrats also believe their road to the White House passes through Ohio, a critical battleground state. No Republican has won the presidency without winning Ohio.
A poll published on Sunday in the Columbus Dispatch showed Bush and Kerry running neck and neck. The survey, with a margin of error of plus or minus two percentage points, put Bush at 47 per cent, Kerry at 44 per cent and independent candidate Ralph Nader at 2 per cent.
Despite millions of dollars spent on advertising by both camps, the poll's results mirrored those of a Dispatch survey published on April 2. Later on Sunday, Kerry was holding a "front porch" discussion at home of Jessie and Janet Aikens where he planned to speak about the U.S. economy, creating jobs and cutting middle class taxes.
Despite the recent improvement in unemployment numbers and other economic indicators, Ohio has been hit particularly hard by the flight of work overseas, especially in the manufacturing industry.
"These jobs lost are not abstract numbers," Kerry said in remarks prepared for delivery. "They are our neighbours. They are our families and they are wondering how they're going to provide for their children, pay the bills and make ends meet." -Reuters
