Clintons, Obama hope to woo black support in Selma

Story Highlights

• Clintons to make first joint campaign appearance in Selma, Alabama
• Civil Rights commemoration headlined by Clinton rival Sen. Barack Obama
• Former President Bill Clinton to receive voting rights museum award
• Clinton, Obama battling for black support in 2008 Democratic primary races

From Mary Snow
CNN New York Bureau

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NEW YORK (CNN) -- As they battle for support in the black community in their quest for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination, Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama will attend Sunday's commemoration of the historic 1965 Selma voting rights march.

However, Clinton will bring along a not-so-secret weapon -- her husband, former President Bill Clinton.

"There is no white politician in America who is more popular in the African-American community than Bill Clinton," said Jamal Simmons, a Democratic strategist. "So she has a very strong card to play."

The results of one recent poll suggest that card is one she may need. (Watch how the former president can help Sen. Clinton )

An ABC News-Washington Post survey, taken late last week, found that Obama, from Illinois, was the choice of 44 percent of black Democrats, compared to 33 percent for Hillary Clinton, with a sampling error of plus or minus 8 percentage points. That was a marked shift from the beginning of the year, when she led Obama 60 percent to 20 percent. (Full story)

However, the poll found that the New York senator's favorable rating among black voters was 85 percent, compared to 70 percent for Obama, although his favorability has climbed 16 points since the beginning of the year.

Rep. John Lewis, D-Georgia, one of the leaders of the Selma march 42 years ago, said the competition for black voters between the senators is "a very difficult position to be in, but it's a good position to be in."

"We have choices," he said.

Simmons said that while black voters have a great deal of loyalty for Bill Clinton, "the question is whether that loyalty transfers to Hillary Clinton, and that's really the test she'll have to meet."

On Sunday in Selma, the former president will be inducted into the Voting Rights Hall of Fame. It will be the first major public appearance the Clintons have made together since Hillary Clinton announced in January that she would seek the Democratic nomination, and political observers will be looking keenly at how well she fares alongside her husband.

"There is, of course, something of a risk that when the Clintons appear next to one another, sometimes Bill can outshine her, and his connection to the community," said political analyst Stu Rothenberg of The Rothenberg Political Report.

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