Braun tries to broaden appeal beyond black voters
CHICAGO (AP) - Black leaders believed she was the best person to reach outside the black community to contend against Rahm Emanuel and other top candidates...
CHICAGO (AP) — Not long after Chicago’s black leaders settled on former Sen. Carol Moseley Braun as their best hope to elect an African-American mayor, she made one thing clear: She intended to seek support from a broad range of voters — not just black ones.
Black leaders believed she was the best person to reach outside the black community to contend against Rahm Emanuel and other top candidates. But she’s also a candidate with a pile of political baggage who hasn’t won an election of any kind in nearly 20 years.
Many of the voters who in 1992 made her the first black woman ever elected to the Senate were so disappointed with her performance there that they may be reluctant to support her again. And in recent weeks, she has made some brow-raising public statements such as refusing to release her tax returns, then reversing course.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.
