Washington:  Black conservative talk show host Armstrong Williams has never voted for a Democrat for president. That could change this year with Barack Obama as the Democratic Party's nominee.

"I don't necessarily like his policies; I don't like much that he advocates, but for the first time in my life, history thrusts me to really seriously think about it," Williams said. "I can honestly say I have no idea who I'm going to pull that lever for in November. And to me, that's incredible."

Just as Obama has touched black Democratic voters, he has engendered conflicting emotions among black Republicans who are far fewer in numbers. They revel over the possibility of a black president but wrestle with the thought that Obama does not sit beside them ideologically.

"Among black conservatives," Williams said, "they tell me privately, it would be very hard to vote against him in November."

Perhaps sensing the possibility of such a shift, Republican presidential candidate John McCain has made some efforts to lure black voters. He recently told Essence magazine that he would attend the annual convention of the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People, a leading civil rights group, next month, and he noted that he recently travelled to Selma, Alabama, scene of seminal voting rights protests in the 1960s, and "talked about the need to include forgotten Americans. "

Still, McCain has a tall order in winning black votes, no doubt made taller by running against a black opponent.

Source : PTI