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Purpose - The African American electorate in Savannah, Georgia, has a history of being managed and manipulated, but over a period of time it reached its full potential. This electorate evolved during the leadership of a white Democratic mayor who manipulated the increased number of black registered voters as a result of the 1965 Voting Rights Act (VRA ) to maintain white empowerment in a majority black city. This struggle for power proves that national reforms do not always have the immediate consequences that national leaders hoped. This chapter explores how the African American electorate persevered and took advantage of the political mistakes of others to attain its empowerment at the mayoral level. This evolution of political mobilization and empowerment would culminate with the election of the city's first female African American mayor in 2011. Research design - We conduct a comparative analysis of election results over time. Findings - Federal intervention has been the most powerful and helpful to the African American electorate. However, while the Savannah African American electorate was managed and manipulated, such reforms were implemented in a gradual and limited manner. Hence, the rise of black mayoral power is the result of a lot of lucky political accidents due to a shrewd Democratic mayor who used the 1965 VRA to extend and maintain white empowerment in a majority African American urban city. Thus, national reforms do not always have the immediate consequences that national leaders hoped. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors reflect on the election of Senator Barack Obama as U.S. president in 2008. They claim that Obama's win was deemed impossible by most people when he announced his candidacy for the Democratic Party's nomination. They pointed out that certainty of Hillary Clinton's victory in the Democratic primaries was perceived to be very high. They argued that little emphasis was given to the African American electorate during the campaign.

This article presents a systematic and comprehensive analysis of 12 different African American senatorial candidates in the 2004 and 2006 elections. In light of the election of Senator Barack Obama in 2004, the potential of a Senate public policymaking option is explored for solving problems inherent in the African American community. The authors conclude that there is indeed a new public policymaking option available with an African American present in the U.S. Senate. However, Republican control of the Senate and the executive branch were offsetting factors and that changes have to take place before the Senate policymaking option can have a substantial or any influence at all. Developments in future election cycles could well enhance the potential for the exercise of this option in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]