Obama banking on black turnout

Democratic strategists believe that if the Obama campaign can reach even a fraction of African Americans who have not voted in the past, it can cut dramatically into Bush's 2004 victory margins. According to a Democratic strategy memo in Florida, where Bush won by about 381,000 votes, "encouraging just one-third of the non-2004 voters to cast a vote would alone [make up] more than half the margin."

In Florida, hundreds of campaign "fellows" have signed on to canvass targeted neighborhoods throughout the summer. Similar efforts are underway in Virginia, where campaign workers have been dispatched to parking lots, bus stops and grocery stores in heavily Democratic areas.

"It's safe to say that we could come close to registering enough to make up the difference" in 2004 between Bush and Democratic nominee John F. Kerry, said Rep. Robert C. Scott (D-Va.). Bush won Virginia by about 260,000 votes.

In addition, a coalition of liberal advocacy groups, led by the Assn. of Community Organizations for Reform Now, is trying to register 1.2 million voters -- with a special emphasis on blacks.

While the NAACP is nonpartisan and its officials say their efforts to register new voters are not specifically designed to help Obama, they say there is an added excitement among potential new voters.

"Hope is at an all-time high, and when hope is raised, people are moved to action," said Sybil Edwards-McNabb, president of the Ohio NAACP.

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peter.wallsten@latimes.com