Obama Quietly Moves to Pump Up Black Vote

Barack Obama is running a quiet parallel campaign aimed at black voters while he spends his time and more obvious effort in moderate white areas, Politico reports. The campaign has run ads targeted at black voters that aren’t released to the media, and scoured heavily African-American areas for new voters. “If you didn't notice it, then you probably weren't the target,” says a spokesman.

To stand a chance, Obama must avoid the appearance of being too closely associated with black America. At the same time, each bit he is able to increase black voter turnout brings him closer to winning. “What he has done is he's shunned black voters—but he knows that they know that he's black,” says one political consultant. (More Black voters stories.)