What About Iowa??? It's Not White Enough for You?

I was listening to Sam Sedar today, sitting in for Randi Rhodes today since it was her birthday and she took the day off. A couple of the callers today said that South Carolina went for Barack Obama this past weekend because of the African-Americans in that state. They made it sound as if that's the only reason why he won 55% of the vote. I've heard folks repeat this on the talking heads shows on the teevee, also.

I know that Iowa was a caucus and it's a different system of voting for a candidate, but if I remember correctly, Iowa has a hell of a lot of white folks in it. In fact, according to 2006 Census data, the state, with its population of 2,982,085, is 94.6% Caucasian-American. Obama won the caucus with 38% of the vote, compared to Clinton's 30%.

It's not the huge margin of victory seen in South Carolina, but still, Iowa's got a lot of white folks who voted for a black man. And yeah, New Hampshire's got a lot of white folks too (as well as Florida, which Clinton won tonight, despite the lack of delegates to be seated) who didn't vote for a black man, but really, can you say that only black people are voting for Obama? Really?

Note to people: that meme don't necessarily fly. Stop embarrassing yourselves by repeating it.