Key black support is still up for grabs

In an effort to show Hillary Clinton’s appeal to the African American community as the campaign heads to South Carolina, the Congressional Black Caucus political action committee announced Thursday that it was endorsing her.

But Oakland Democratic Rep. Barbara Lee, a past chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus, pointed out Thursday that the political action committee is distinctly different from the group of 46 federal lawmakers of which she is a member. The lawmakers’ group hasn’t endorsed anyone, and neither has Lee.

The 20- member political action committee, which includes 10 lobbyists or corporate representatives to Congress, eight lawmakers and two staffers, backed Clinton without input from Lee.

“I have not endorsed anyone,” Lee said Thursday. “I will endorse when I feel that I can make a difference in electing a Democratic president.”

She wants to hear the candidates talk more about “waste, fraud and abuse” in the defense budget, environmental racism, and what can be done about gentrification in cities like Oakland. She also wants to hear more from the candidates about how they would get more people of color into technology companies.

After barely squeaking out a victory over Sen. Bernie Sanders, D- Vt., in the Iowa caucuses and getting crushed in Tuesday’s New Hampshire primary, Clinton supporters said the two nearly all- white states do not reflect the diversity of the Democratic Party or the nation.

Instead, they looked forward to the Feb. 27 South Carolina Democratic primary, where an estimated 55 percent of the electorate is black. There, Clinton has the support of 64 percent of likely primary voters and 74 percent of likely African American voters, according to an NBC News/ Wall Street Journal/ Marist poll.

While the caucus PAC endorsed Clinton, Sanders received the support of best- selling author and National Book Award winner Ta- Nehisi Coates this week. But many leading black lawmakers, such as Lee and Rep. James Clyburn, D- S. C., the third- highest- ranking House member, haven’t taken sides yet.

In 2007, Lee endorsed Barack Obama before the Iowa caucuses.

“That was a different time,” Lee said Thursday. “I felt then, given the fact that we were at the brink of a depression, that he was the right person for the right time. For me, that was the correct decision.”