Please, let me amend a bit my last response. It's not just racism, but also anti-intellectualism, an ethos of conformity, and suspicion of "the other" that this demographic mistrusts.

I'm speaking only from personal experience here, so please don't take this as any kind of scientific study, but in my experience, Hillary would appeal to this demographic because (in the simplest of terms) she doesn't come off as sophisticated or as someone who will rock the boat. She's a problem solver rather than a dreamer.

In my experience, dreamers are abused as faggots. Clinton's appeal is far more earthy, pragmatic, and lacking ambition.

I think this is probably more of a factor than race, frankly.

unless there's some way of actually gauging the ability of this mayor to deliver black votes to one candidate or the other.

I think Philly still has a reputation of being a political machine town, much like Chicago under Daley. The following google search (philly machine politics obama) returned about 553,000 hits:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=philly+machine+politics+obama&btnG=Google+Search

Sounds like a lot of people are trying to guage the ability of the mayor to deliver. Looks like a valid point to raise.

Fair enough.

We shall see what we shall see.

Sure, people did better under the Clintons than under Bush, but it's not like they did Silicon-Valley better. The Clintons also brought us NAFTA and most-favored-nation status for China, all part of the great deindustrialization of America.

And what's John McCain gonna do? Hug his rich second wife, smile patronizingly, and say, "Those jobs aren't coming back, my friends." Oh, that'll go over well. Almost as good as his economic plan:

[This space left blank.]

I like Obama's chances here; he does well with people who are completely new to him when he has enough time. And he has enough time in Pennsylvania.

the New Yorker had a long profile on this man ... who is a friend of Obama, fwiw, ... impressive impressive impressive ...

Whole article not on line, link to "abstract" on my name ...

thanks for the reminder ... keep you eye on THIS guy ...

First, firm agreement. Mayor Booker is a very impressive man, much as Obama was ten years ago. After that, you pitch into the darkness of your own self evident ignorance. I will, if you don't mind, pass on the ever so tempting off to bite you. I know you're taken up on that quite often in republikan men's rooms. Here, no so much. Where to start? Ivy league rich kid? Oh, my. Yeah, just like Bushit. except he got in on merit alone, was an academic home run hitter, the President of the Harvard Law Review. billary took three tries to pass the bar. Next slur: he grew up in the sunny suburbs of Hawaii. Dumbass. I lived in Hawaii, and have friends there still. He was a middle class kid with God given talent. HIs book deal was based on his ability to write (which I'm certain far exceeds your ability to read) and actually sell books on merit. The Klinton Kamp books, which are actually quite well done, were sold on the basis of name recognition alone. You know: just like Billary's senate and now presidential campaigns. If her name were Rodham, or Rodman, or Muffmuncher, or Goldwater Girl, she wouldn't draw flies. She took a campaign with a rose petal strewn path to the nomination, and got beaten, badly, by a rookie. He out organized her, out thought her, out strategized her, and kicked her ample ass in every way that counts. Votes. Delegates. Have you checked recently, rosenshitze? She lost five more delegates in the Texas contest- which she LOST- and is now down about 150 delegates. After Penn and NC, the gap will be just about the same, except the super delegates, who can smell a loser, will defect to Obama to escape the Billary infection. Get shots. Get help. Get bent.

Here's a little more flavor from the tubes:

In last year's Philly race, Obama endorsed Rep. Chaka Fattah, who lost that race to current Philly Mayor Michael Nutter. As a result, as Philly blogger Will Bunch explains, Nutter endorsed Hillary some time ago, on the theory that the enemy of your enemy is your friend.

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/03/obama_rueing_day_he_got_involv.php

Independent of the veracity of above article, it shows there are always many angles to consider when dealing with politicians. I personally don't know much about the city of Philly. It's reported that Nutter is popular at the moment.

The fact that you are unable to write without resorting to contrived insults and over-wrought cliches leads me to believe that you don't really want to be taken seriously. Sorry, if you were trying to insult me, I've been insulted by smarter people than you. If you were trying to persuade me that I was wrong, then you need a few lessons on rhetoric and persuasive writing. So I'm not sure what you're trying to accomplish other than your own apparent need to label those who don't agree with you as racist.

Do some of you people seriously think Hillary was bagging at Walmart to put herself through Wellesley? Or that Dubya grew up punching cattle back on the ranch at Kennebunkport? Or that McCain isn't, well, the son of an admiral?

Christ. Obama's well-educated, yes. And he was quite successful at that, in sharp contrast to the last two people mentioned. He didn't get there by being a son of the ruling class, either. And what did he do immediately afterward? He started organizing in a poor urban area.

"Book-writing." Jesus! God help us if we have a President who could actually write, huh?

If only his books weren't self-serving, truth-bending, and not particularly well written. You'll note that Hillary has also written books. As I said, I am not comparing Obama to Hillary, but Obama to his own inflated notion of himself. He is no saint, far from it, and I don't think people will realize that until he starts making his first major blunders in office.