Reply #77: This is about standing up for our constituents!

[pointsoflight]

Black voters continue to experience massive disenfranchisement. Do people not realize that 90% of black voters vote for democrats? They are by far the strongest, most reliable base of our party. Do people not realize what's at risk if the black caucus in the House stands up yet again, but is once again not joined by even one senator?

You're thinking about this in terms of the election outcome, but contesting the election is not about putting Kerry into office. We know there continues to be major suppression and disenfranchisement of democratic voters. Contesting the election is largely about protecting the right of minority voters to participate in selecting their government representatives, a right that is supposed to be guaranteed by the constitution.

Think about the possible outcome if we don't contest. We risk losing our very strongest base of voters! Either they'll look elsewhere for support, or they just won't bother to vote in future elections. Either way, that would hurt our party much longer-term and much more dramatically than any damage that would occur if a senator objected.

I'm sorry, but I think you're looking at this very short term and very narrowly. Defending our base of voters is much more important than any short-term criticism that comes from the other side of the aisle.