Johnson cites race in Obama's surge

Bobcats owner, who supports Clinton, says Ferraro said it right

JIM MORRILL

jmorrill@charlotteobserver.com

DAVIE HINSHAW / Staff Photographer

4/14/08 - Charlotte Bobcats owner Bob Johnson talks with Observer reporters.

Wading back into the Democratic presidential race, billionaire businessman Bob Johnson said Monday that Sen. Barack Obama would not be his party's leading candidate if he were white.

Johnson's comments to the Observer echoed those of former vice presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro. She stepped down as an adviser to Sen. Hillary Clinton last month after saying Obama wouldn't be where he is if he were white.

"What I believe Geraldine Ferraro meant is that if you take a freshman senator from Illinois called `Jerry Smith' and he says I'm going to run for president, would he start off with 90 percent of the black vote?" Johnson said. "And the answer is, probably not... ."

"Geraldine Ferraro said it right. The problem is, Geraldine Ferraro is white. This campaign has such a hair-trigger on anything racial ... it is almost impossible for anybody to say anything."

Johnson, who made a fortune after founding Black Entertainment Television and now owns the Charlotte Bobcats, is a longtime friend of Clinton and her husband, the former president.

It was during a January appearance for the New York senator in Columbia that he first stepped into controversy, referring to Obama and "what he was doing in the neighborhood."

Many took that as a reference to Obama's acknowledged drug use in his youth. But in a statement, Johnson said he'd been "referring to Barack Obama's time spent as a community organizer and nothing else. Any other suggestion is simply irresponsible and incorrect."

On Monday, Johnson alluded to the incident.

"I make a joke about Obama doing drugs (and it's) `Oh my God, a black man tearing down another black man'," Johnson said.

The Obama campaign dismissed Johnson's comments.

"This is just one in a long line of absurd comments by Bob Johnson and other Clinton supporters who will say or do anything to get the nomination," said spokesman Dan Leistikow. "The American people are tired of this and are ready to turn the page on these kind of attack politics."

Johnson disputed the notion that Obama has built a broad coalition. Most of his support, he said, comes from African Americans and white liberals but not white, working-class Democrats.

"I don't think he has that common -- what I call `I-want-to-go-out-and-have-a-drink-with-you -- touch," Johnson said.

An Observer/WCNC Poll this month found Obama and Clinton splitting the votes of white North Carolinians who say they'll vote in the May 6 primary. Obama led 59 percent to 7 percent among African Americans.

Johnson said Obama is likely to win the nomination and has had the support of "the liberal media."

"They sort of dislike Hillary for her vote on the war. They don't want to see Bill and Hillary in power again," he said. "So Obama comes in and runs a smart campaign. But that's not the Second Coming, in my opinion, of John F. Kennedy, FDR or the world's greatest leaders."

NAACP Wants Probe Into Bandit Sentences

MARIETTA, Ga. (AP) - The head of the Georgia NAACP called for the state to investigate the sentences given in the so-called "Barbie bandits" bank theft case, saying the two white defendants got less prison time than two black men.

Edward DuBose said Monday he will ask state Attorney General Thurbert Baker to look into the case. Baker's office did not immediately respond to a call seeking comment Tuesday.

Last month, Cobb County Superior Court Judge Mary Staley sentenced 20-year-old Heather Johnston to 10 years probation after she pleaded guilty to a charge of theft by taking in the 2007 heist. The judge gave 19-year-old Ashley Miller two years in jail and eight years probation. Both women are white.

Michael Chastang, 28, was sentenced to 10 years for being the mastermind of the robbery, and bank teller Bennie Allen III, 23, who pleaded guilty, was sentenced to five years. Both men are black. Chastang also is serving 15 years on unrelated drug-trafficking charges and Allen was on probation for a drug conviction.

Johnston and Miller - both former exotic dancers who went by the stage names "Charlie" and "Adrienne" - were nicknamed the "Barbie bandits" after they were videotaped wearing sunglasses and laughing as they appeared to rob a Bank of America branch in Acworth of $11,000.

By MARTHA RAFFAELE
Associated Press Writer

HARRISBURG, Pennsylvania (AP) _ Voters in Pennsylvania rarely elect black and female candidates. But they will have to choose one or the other in the April 22 Democratic presidential primary between Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton.

There is no consensus explanation among political operatives and scholars for the political glass ceiling in this state, which currently has only one black person and one woman in its 21-member congressional delegation and has never had a black or female governor. Only one black and one woman have ever sought the governorship on a major party ticket.

Some chalk it up to the parties' failure to recruit more women and blacks, and a tendency to favor incumbents over untested upstarts. Some theories hold that juggling young families and political careers deters women from seeking full-time office or voters from choosing them. Some believe the concentration of blacks in urban areas works against black candidates for statewide office who must seek votes in predominantly white rural counties.

Pennsylvania's voting-age population is more than 50 percent female and about 10 percent black, but neither group has comparable representation among top state and federal elective offices. One of the worst showings: Only 15 percent of the 253 seats in the Legislature are filled by women, leaving Pennsylvania 43rd nationally.

State Democratic Party chairman T.J. Rooney sees no "inherent bias" against black or female candidates. "The challenge that confronts candidates of any stripe is being able to put together the money and the organization," he said.

But racial bias is still a reality in much of the state, said J. Whyatt Mondesire, state president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Outside Philadelphia and its suburbs, he pointed out, few minorities hold positions of power in county party organizations.

Gov. Ed Rendell, who backs Clinton, said in February that some white Pennsylvanians would likely vote against Obama because he is black. Rendell said racial bias may have contributed 5 percentage points to his own 22-percentage-point victory in 2006 over Republican Lynn Swann, the former Pittsburgh Steelers star who is the only black ever to run for governor for a major party.

When criticized for his remarks, Rendell added that Clinton faces similar obstacles because of her gender.

Rendell said both Clinton and Obama have done a good job overcoming stereotypes and Obama could benefit from his "ability to bring new voters into the electoral pool."

Driven by the contest between Clinton and Obama, Democratic registration in the state has soared over 4 million, the first time by any party.

Thaddeus Mathis, co-director of Temple University's Center for African American Research and Public Policy, attributes the paucity of elected blacks to the concentration of the black population in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.

U.S. Rep. Chaka Fattah, a Democrat who backs Obama, said Pennsylvanians' previous reluctance to vote for black candidates will not necessarily hurt Obama.

"Race is a factor in American life, ... but it doesn't preclude you from winning any vote," said Fattah, Pennsylvania's only black congressman. "What you have to do is show you can identify with the issues and concerns of the people you are seeking support from."

Like blacks, women also say party organizations could do more to promote their candidacies.

Barbara Hafer, a former auditor general and treasurer, is the only woman to run for governor on a major party ticket. As the Republican nominee, she was soundly defeated by incumbent Gov. Robert P. Casey in 1990.

Hafer had to launch her own political career; she was not recruited to be a candidate.

"You have to do it on your own, with your own family and friends," Hafer said. "You cannot rely on party leadership."

Ruth Rudy, a Democratic National Committee member who spent 14 years in the Legislature, said rural voters "don't view women as being effective in positions of power as they do men."

"When I first took my petition (for Legislature) around to get signed," said Rudy, who lives near State College in the center of Pennsylvania, "there were people who said, 'I just don't think a woman is capable of handling the job."'

But Pennsylvania did not always trail other states in electing women. In 1922, two years after women got the vote, Pennsylvanians elected the first women to the Legislature. Eight won state House seats, making Pennsylvania a national leader, Manderino said.