Make no mistake about it, Haley Barbour was the brains behind Cochran’s resuscitation. Haley is like a son to me. He is the former governor of Mississippi and former head of the Republican National Committee. A political genius, Haley knows how to win; and is a helluva guy to get a drink with. Haley knows how to operate without leaving fingerprints. But his DNA was all over Cochran’s campaign. He is definitely ol’ school.
What saved Cochran was the Republicans use of the “reverse Southern Strategy.” The Southern Strategy was created by Kevin Phillips, a former Nixon aide, in the 1960s to sacrifice the Black vote (who were staunchly Republican) in order to pick up the vote of the White Southern Democrats opposed civil rights. To this day, that keeps Blacks aligned with the Democratic Party.
The Cochran campaign did the exact opposite. They sacrificed the conservative White Tea Party vote to pick up the Black vote. They made a political calculation that they had maxed out on their White support and their only way of winning was to expand their base of support.
The only option was to go after Black Democrats who had not voted in the primary. It was a stroke of genius.
What angered me about this last-ditch effort when, in fact, it should have a conscious development. Why did it take desperation to get the party and the campaign to do what was and has always been in its own best interest—cultivating the Black vote?
I was further angered that prior to the runoff, there was absolutely no mention of the Black vote by either candidate. Neither campaign had any Blacks on their campaign staffs or as consultants in decision making positions.
Normally, I blast the Republican Party for doing the right thing even if it’s the wrong way (Rand Paul’s visit to Howard University); but in this case, they did the wrong thing the right way. The Cochran campaign has spent more time and spent more money with Black Democrats than they have with Black Republicans. Go figure.
Over the years, I have had heated discussions with conservative and Tea Party members of the Republican Party over the issue of race. I have been told that sometimes I can be “hyper-sensitive” on the issue of race; I am “overreacting;” or “we just have a different view on this issue than you.” Really?
Some unknown group created a robo-call targeting Black voters that said in part, “Hello neighbors. It’s time to take a stand against the Tea Party. The time has come to say no to the Tea Party. No to their obstruction, no to their disrespectful treatment of the first African American president…If we do nothing, Tea Party candidate Chris McDaniel wins and causes even more problems for President Obama…” Both campaigns deny any involvement in the making and distribution of the recorded call.
The McDaniel campaign and the Tea Party are furious about the robo-call. Now that you have experienced the race card being played against you, maybe, just maybe you will be more understanding of my views the next time we have a discussion about race.
(Raynard Jackson is president & CEO of Raynard Jackson & Associates LLC., a Washington, D.C.-based public relations/government affairs firm. He can be reached through his website, www.raynardjackson.com. You can also follow him on Twitter at raynard1223)
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