ELECTIONS ’92 : Clinton Courts Black Vote as Election Day Nears

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The faces in the crowds and on the platforms tell the story. After spending much of the summer and early autumn keeping black Americans somewhat at arm’s length, the Democratic presidential ticket of Bill Clinton and Al Gore is now courting them in a big way.

Clinton’s first campaign event after last Sunday’s initial presidential debate was a Monday morning subway ride from downtown Philadelphia to a depressed black neighborhood, where he spent more than an hour shaking hands with residents.

That night, accompanied by singer Harry Belafonte, the Arkansas governor flew to Charlotte, N.C., to speak at a rally marking the start of a weeklong, get-out-the-black-vote bus trip through several Southern states.

And on Friday night, Clinton and Gore appeared at a riverfront nighttime rally in New Orleans marking the end of that bus trip, which was sponsored by the Democratic National Committee and the Congressional Black Caucus.

Earlier on Friday, they had joined the last leg of that trip, rumbling through the rain in a huge caravan from Baton Rouge, La., to New Orleans in the company of dozens of national and local black leaders, including Reps. Charles B. Rangel (D-N.Y.), Mike Espy (D-Miss.) and Barbara-Rose Collins (D-Mich.).

The entourage made stops at Southern University in Baton Rouge and Dillard University in New Orleans, where they were greeted by a sea of black faces. At Southern University, where the warm-up act was a rap group, Clinton told his enthusiastic crowd: “I got into this race because I did not want 30 years of civil rights strides to come apart at the seam because of economic and social stress.”

These overtures to blacks appear to reflect Clinton’s desire for attaining a broad mandate from all segments of the populace.

During much of the campaign, some black leaders--most notably the Rev. Jesse Jackson--have criticized Clinton for a wary approach toward black Americans, who in recent presidential elections have been the one voting bloc Democrats could count on. Jackson accused Clinton of ignoring blacks and their concerns while spending a disproportionate amount of time campaigning in largely white suburban communities.

But with both words and deeds this week, Clinton and Gore disputed the notion that they have focused on courting these so-called Reagan Democrats at the expense of blacks.

“There is simply no basis for that,” Clinton said.

He conceded that such a perception may have arisen “because I’ve campaigned in places where Democrats normally don’t campaign--in the suburbs, in the blue-collar communities--asking Reagan Democrats, Republicans, independents . . . to come to our campaign.”

Clinton added: “My goal is to campaign to all Americans, to say the same thing, and that’s what I intend to do” through Election Day.

Gore, campaigning on his own in Florida Saturday, took time out to meet with about 15 politically active black ministers in Jacksonville before returning to his home in Washington for a weekend of rest.

He denied the Democratic ticket has embarked on a stepped-up effort to court black voters, insisting that he and Clinton have been wooing all segments of the population since the general election began.

“I think it’s a question of the press noticing it, with all due respect,” Gore said.