News
February 2012
Michael Strautmanis, deputy assistant to President Barack Obama, was ready to go home as was the other dozens of State of the Union watchers packed into the boardroom at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies.
Despite the obvious fatigue of a long day; plus the intensity of watching President Obama’s hour-long State of the Union speech, there was a late-night agenda on the...
January 2012
With two contests down, and several more to go, all eyes are now on South Carolina, the first state in the GOP presidential nominating race to boast a significant African-American population. And while as in New Hampshire and Iowa, Blacks will play a minimal role, that doesn’t mean that people of color around the nation should ignore what Republicans will be saying as they vie to win the...
January 2012
With the nation's first GOP presidential primary three days away here, a confident Mitt Romney spent most of Friday in South Carolina as Rick Santorum tried to build on his near upset in Iowa to make up ground on the front-runner.
Michigan native Romney is comfortably ahead in the Granite State, and back-to-back victories could solidify his lead among six candidates early in the nominating...
November 2011
Herman Cain’s turn atop the polls in the contest for the Republican presidential nomination captured the attention of journalists and pundits and sparked excitement among grass-roots conservative activists. But is it really possible that he — a black man who overcame poverty in the segregated South to become a wealthy entrepreneur and front-runner in the GOP race — would be the...
October 2011
When Lucille Richmond cast her ballot for Barack Obama three years ago, she, like many African-Americans, embraced the historic opportunity to help elect the nation’s first black president.
But waiting in line at the county employment security commission last week, the 52-year-old grandmother - who lost two food preparation jobs and is searching for full-time work - can’t muster...
May 2011
President Obama appears to be riding high. Osama Bin Laden, the world’s most-wanted man, has been killed under his leadership. He pulled off an “in your face” coo by producing his long-form birth certificate to silence billionaire Donald Trump. And although the economy is still struggling, it shows some signs of recovery.
Yet, it will be none of these accomplishments that...