This is only statistical confirmation of what has been obvious since runoff election night, but full stats now show a heavy vote from black Mississippi voters who typically vote overwhelmingly for Democrats gave Republican Sen. Thad Cochran his winning margin over a Tea Party challenger, Chris McDaniel.
Do the black voters get something in return, such as Cochran’s support for reviving the Voting Rights Act, its absence being busily used by Republicans to further marginalize minority groups?
You get a sense of how some Republicans view of the Democratic process by the cries of foul from teabaggers like Ted Cruz that black people voted (legally) in the Mississippi Republican primary. Republican primaries — now tantamount to election in Dixie, as the saying goes — are only supposed to be open to real Americans.
In heavily black and Democratic regions, maybe 40,000 Obama voters turned out for Cochran and voted for him 20-1. Only 20-1?
Typical was a black precinct in Jackson, which Cochran carried 35-17 in the first primary. Cochran carried it 204-5 in the runoff.
Mississippi has a much larger percentage of black voters. But you can see what a unified effort and higher turnout can do for a candidate, even in a state like Arkansas. Ask Bill Clinton.