More talk on the Democratic presidential primary with JASON JOHNSON, Assistant Professor of Communications and Political Science at Hiram College in Ohio and SCOTT HUFFMON, Associate Professor of Political Science and founder and director of the Social and Behavioral Research Laboratory at Winthrop University in Rock Hill South Carolina. Click here to listen to WHYY Radio Times podcast.
Hillary Clinton
WOIO: Reverend Jeremiah Wright Controversy
Jason Johnson talks to 19 Action News about the most recent comments from Rev. Jeremiah Wright and the 2008 election campaigns.
WOIO: Pennsylvania Presidential primary
Professor Jason Johnson talks to 19 Action News following the results of the Pennsylvania primary.
WHYY: Pennsylvania Presidential Primary Update
Listen to Professor Jason Johnson discuss the Pennsylvania Democratic primary between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama on WHYY Radio Times.
In our weekly discussion of national politics we catch up on Election 2008. It was a busy week with the candidates weighing in on the five-year Iraq war anniversary, also John McCain is emphasizing his foreign policy credentials with trips to Iraq & Afghanistan, Barack Obama was in damage control mode over his controversial pastor, and Hillary Clinton’s daily calendar as First Lady was just released. To talk about all this we’ll hear from JON DELANO the Money and Politics editor for KDKA television in Pittsburgh, and with JASON JOHNSON, an Assistant Professor of Communications and Political Science at Hiram College in Ohio.
Johnson discusses Ohio primary in Cleveland Plain Dealer
Jason Johnson commented on the impact of race on the 2008 Democratic presidential primary in Ohio. Johnson was interviewed by the Cleveland Plain Dealer for the article “Race mattered more in Ohio primary than in any other state.”
Experts don’t deny the influence of race and prejudice, but they question its power in the Tuesday primary.
“Race, of course, plays a role in the election,” said Jason Johnson, a former professional campaign strategist and a professor of political science and communications at Hiram College. “But did it play a defining role in Ohio?”
Obama was never ahead in the race for Ohio, and Clinton dominated the same southern counties that supported her husband in two presidential campaigns, Johnson noted. Name recognition, gender, the economy and myriad other factors stoked the Ohio vote, polls indicate.
But it’s indeed naive to dismiss bigotry, Johnson said.
“There is going to be a hard-core group of people in any community who are not going to vote for a black man, period,” he said.