Terry McAuliffe, who in 2008 was an attack dog for Hillary Clinton as she battled Barack Obama for the Democratic nomination, appears to be succeeding in an aggressive push for Virginia’s black voters.
With just more than a week until the June 9 primary, McAuliffe has out-marshaled his two Democratic opponents among African-Americans, a constituency that broke 9-to-1 in favor of Obama in last year’s Potomac Primary, experts said.
For the former Clinton campaign chairman, that success comes after months of reinventing himself as a longtime Obama supporter, tailoring issues to the black community and broadcasting that message to urban media markets.
“It’s called campaigning, man; he’s campaigning,” said Del. Kenneth Alexander, D-Norfolk, chairman of the Legislative Black Caucus.
“Terry is running it like you would advertise a startup business. … He’s taken a page from the business community as it relates to marketing and promotion.”
Alexander supports candidate Brian Moran, his former colleague in the House of Delegates whose resignation he believes hurt Moran’s support among black voters.
His recognition that McAuliffe has scooped up that support underscores a growing problem for Moran and state Sen. Creigh Deeds, the third Democrat in the race. Polls show McAuliffe with two or even three times the black support of his opponents.
Moran, especially, has framed as bogus McAuliffe’s efforts to shovel over his history as Obama’s opponent.
“The issue isn’t who he supported in the primary, the issue is that he’s trying to reinvent himself now,” Moran spokesman Jesse Ferguson said.
Those efforts were on display in a radio spot last month in Norfolk and Richmond, two areas rich in minority votes. It was one of eight radio ads the campaign has run in urban markets.
In the ad, rapper will.i.am, an Obama backer campaigning on behalf of McAuliffe, asserts his “work with Terry led me to actively campaign for Barack Obama.”
Earlier in the month, will.i.am told a crowd at an Arlington rally that McAuliffe called him in 2007 urging him to support Clinton.
McAuliffe’s success among the black voters troubles George Mason political science professor Toni Travis, the school’s African-American studies program director.
“I think he’s impressed the black community with his razzle-dazzle,” she said. “They see he’s got money, he’s got energy, and that makes him look like a winner to them.”
Absent from McAuliffe’s pitch, she said, are details on how he’s going to bring his campaign promises — including job growth — into reality.
The unease is not universally felt. Last week, the Richmond Free Press, the commonwealth’s largest African-American newspaper, endorsed McAuliffe, saying he could “keep up the momentum for hope and change and continue the tradition of the smart, fair-minded, resourceful leadership best exemplified by President Obama.”
McAuliffe spokeswoman Lis Smith said the candidate has been outspoken in his support for minority-owned businesses, a predatory lending ban and automatic restoration of voting rights for nonviolent felons. But she disputed the notion that the candidate has tailored his campaign to win over black voters.
