'Girlfriends' Star Campaigns for Barack Obama in South Carolina

[Ethelk2044]

Tracee Ellis Ross, one of the stars of the Emmy-nominated comedy series, Girlfriends, was the latest female celebrity to visit South Carolina on Monday, October 8, on behalf of U.S. Senator presidential candidate Barack Obama. She spent the day stumping for Obama in Columbia and Orangeburg, and the following day, spearheaded the "Women for Obama" campaign effort in Florence, the center of the Pee Dee Region.

"Women for Obama" is the campaign's outreach exclusively to women voters, whose strength at the Democratic primaries' polls have caught the attention of leading candidates. As part of the outreach, Tracee Ellis Ross, whose work on Girlfriends earned her the 2005 BET and 2007 Image Awards for Outstanding Lead Actress, talked to emerging female leaders at Benedict College in Columbia and headlined the opening of a campaign-centered regional office in Orangeburg.

In the 2004 Democratic presidential primary, 57 percent of the voters were women. In the general election, women were responsible for 56 percent of the vote. On a national scale, 53 percent of all votes in Democratic primaries across the country during the 1992 elections were cast by women, and political analysts are expecting the same figure next year.

Moreover, African-Americans are expected to account for roughly half of South Carolina's Democratic primary. A recent poll conducted by Winthrop University showed black women voted in larger numbers than black men. The poll also revealed that while Obama leads among black male voters, he is, as of last week, in equal standing with New York Senator Hilary Clinton in terms of black female supporters.

Tracee Ellis Ross, who plays attorney Joan Clayton on Girlfriends, is not the only black female celebrity who has openly shown her support for Obama. Television personality and media mogul Oprah Winfrey (The Oprah Winfrey Show) has also publicly pledged her support for the 46-year-old Illinois senator, while Emmy Award-winning actress Alfre Woodard (Desperate Housewives) and Jasmine Guy (A Different World) appeared in South Carolina.

http://www.buddytv.com/articles/girlfriends/girlfriends-star-campaigns-for-12416.aspx

[jenmito]

1. Good! I hope Oprah starts coming out publicly for him soon, too.

The more the merrier. K&R

[Nedsdag]

2. Tracee Ellis Ross is Diana Ross' daughter.

n/t

[cuke]

3. I bet no Clinton supporter accuses Obama of trying to exploit women

the way some Clinton haters did with Hillary

[ieoeja]

4. No, they just accused him of trying to exploit African-Americans a few months back. n/t

[cuke]

5. I'd like to see that if you have a link

I'm new, and I think it would be helpful to know who the assholes are

[ieoeja]

8. Didn't save any links. Sorry.

As a friend of mine would say, you can not swing a dead cat around here without hitting an asshole. I have stayed out of the feuds between supporters except to occasionally defend one side or the other from the most heinous allegations.

For Hillary that would mean defending her against the tired old, rightwing "scandals". Those have been so thoroughly debunked you wouldn't think a DUer would have the chutzpah to re-air them. But a few do. Not many fortunately. Most of the anti-Hillary criticisms are on valid issues. You might disagree on a particular issue, but if arguing issues is "bashing" then what is the point of even having a political discussion board?

For Obama I have mostly defended him from false accusations of "gaffes". The Obama haters tend to be really horrible spinners. If they WANT his words to mean something else, then I suppose they can convince themselves they do. But to everyone else they sound f'ing stupid.

For Edwards the really ignorant attacks have all centered on his wealth. A small handful of people seem convinced that you can only be FOR for the poor if you ARE the poor. That would be like saying you can only be FOR women's rights if you ARE a woman. I actually don't defend Edwards often. He is not attacked as often (though they always come in bunches when he is) and this particular argument is just so self evidently stupid, what more can you say?

The important thing to remember is that it is just a bunch of DUers (and probably more than a few disrupters) saying these things. It is not the candidates or their campaign members themselves. I imagine the average candidate would be horrified by some of the things their (alleged) supporters here do. And the biggest assholism isn't even against the candidates, but against the candidates supporters here (which, given what I said in the previous sentence is sometimes warranted). I am personally most offended by certain Hillary supporters who belittle all non-Hillary supporters as "children" etc.

[cuke]

9. No link is OK. I wasn't disputing it. Just interested

And yeah, I agree that most of the criticism is legitimate concerns based on her history. I have no problem like that. Like you, it's the rightwing stuff that really bothers me. Reasonable arguments are no problem. My candidate is not perfect.

All good points. On DU, some of the swinging cats are assholes. :-)

Thanks

[ellacott]

6. They did say he may not get the feminist vote

Because the former rapper Master P. endorsed him. Funny, no one said anything about 50 Cent endorsing Hillary.

[Imagevision]

7. Oprah will be most effective in the home stretch before primary