Page 7 - Florida Sentinel 12-11-18

Political News
Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum Meets With Barack Obama Amid Speculation About 2020 Presidential Run
The 2020 Democrat chal- lenger to President Donald Trump may be a fresh face hailing from a key battle- ground state who won over a huge swath of America in one of this year’s races.
Amid speculation that the former Democratic contender for Governor in Florida might be eyeing a 2020 presidential run, Andrew Gillum met with former President Barack Obama in Washing- ton on Tuesday, two sources tell CNN.
There is no word on what was discussed at the meeting and a spokesperson for Obama declined to com- ment. Obama campaigned for Gillum in his failed bid to become Florida’s first Black governor.
Gillum was in Washing- ton, D.C. to speak at the Lead- ership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. When asked if he planned on run-
Former U.S. President Barack Obama orders lunch with Florida Democratic gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
ning for president, Gillum responded: “I plan on being married to my wife. That is all I am planning.”
He added that he would
do “everything I can to make the state of Florida available and winnable for the demo- cratic nominee for president” in 2020.
Al Sharpton’s Daughter Bags $95K Settlement From NYC For Sprained Ankle Case
Al Sharptons with daughter, Dominique Sharpton (Photo by Jemal Countess/Getty Images)
Al Sharptons eldest child, Dominique Sharp- ton, scored a $95,000 settle- ment from the city of New York over a sprained ankle she suffered in 2015, claiming she permanently injured her ankle after she fell on a Man- hattan street, reports the NY- Post.
The 32-year-old Brooklyn resident was later heavily crit- icized after posting snaps of herself on social media danc- ing, wearing high heels, and climbing a mountain in Bali. It took nearly four years, but defense attorneys finally “de- termined that settling this case was in the best interest of the city,” said a spokesman for the city Law Department.
The case was settled after
the city admitted to being aware of the cracked pave- ment in the crosswalk at Broadway and Broome Street, but made no effort to fix it.
Sharpton sued the city in April 2015 for $5 million after she claimed to have “severely” injured her right leg on the pavement. Her lawyer, John Elefterakis, said the “case was always about fair com- pensation for Ms. Sharp- ton’s ankle injury, which we contend was a result of the city’s negligence.”
“Despite unfair treatment in the press, this settlement reflects the reasonableness of Ms. Sharpton, who was willing to settle her meritori- ous claim for a fair amount based on all factors,” he said.
Stacey Abrams’ Strategy May Make Victory Easier For Future Black Candidates In The South
Democrat Stacey Abrams had been poised to be America’s first ever Black female governor for Georgia in the 2018 midterm elections. She had sadly lost by only 1.5 percentage points – probably because of all the allegations of voter suppres- sion.
Abrams had found it to be her duty to challenge all the po- tential voting irregularities legally before she would offer any kind of concession. By the time these legal options had been exhausted, she was found to still have fewer votes as op- posed to Republican Brian Kemp.
Even though she lost, we be- lieve that she and the future of all Black candidates of the Deep South have won. How so? Well Abrams had gone forward to expand the base of the Demo- cratic Party in Georgia through intensive voter mobilization and voter registration – which is designed to drive up the turnout of Black voters.
Her campaign went ahead
and invested them in phone banking operations and can- vassing which took to the lesson of Alan Gerber and Don Green to the heart. These indi- viduals had beautifully demon- strated how live phone banking and canvassing had the poten- tial to increase the overall turnout of voters.
This strategy was then radi- cally asserted by Abrams while working on the premise that did not woo back all the white peo- ple that had left the Party a long time ago. Instead she focused on building this new base of Black voters who have been seen to be growing in number in Georgia.
This practice was somewhat of a challenge to the practice that was described by Paul Frymer – who referred to it as Democratic ‘electoral capture’. Frymer had argued that these Democrats argued the fact that they need not target their mes- sages to the Black community, because 90% of them already voted Democratic.
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