In a recent radio interview with Tavis Smiley, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) said that he was going to talk to African-American voters by going “all over this country. I’m going to go to South Philadelphia, I’m going to go to the Black Belt in Alabama.” An op-ed in the Philadelphia Daily News, however, fact-checks McCain:
If McCain wants to win over black voters, first he’d better know where to find them.
South Philly has changed from a mostly Italian-heritage enclave to one that includes growing numbers of Asians and Hispanics. According to the latest census, while Philadelphia is a majority-minority city, African-Americans are less than a third of the population in South Philadelphia.
The press had a field day with John Kerry’s swiss cheese moment – front-page news in our town.
But McCain’s gaffes, and his serious policy differences with most Americans, attract much less press and public attention. They don’t seem to make a dent in McCain’s self-portrait as the most seasoned and experienced candidate for the presidency.
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