Black Voter Registration Plan Stalled : Democrats: Clinton campaign is unlikely to embrace the $6-million proposal. But rejecting it could be risky.

The Democratic presidential campaign is unlikely to embrace a $6-million voter registration drive aimed at “maximizing black voter turnout” in 12 Southern states that was presented to the campaign by three black congressmen with close ties to Bill Clinton.

The congressmen--Democrats Mike Espy of Mississippi, John Lewis of Georgia and William J. Jefferson of Louisiana--led a delegation of Southern black political leaders to a recent meeting at the Clinton campaign’s Little Rock, Ark., headquarters. At that meeting, the legislators urged campaign officials to “develop and fund a separate organization to deal with the black community” as outlined in a 10-page document.

Privately, officials said that the full plan is unlikely to be approved by the campaign’s hierarchy because of its massive price tag. Fully instituted, the plan would consume nearly half the campaign’s budget of $12 million to $15 million set aside for all voter outreach programs.

But campaign officials have been reluctant to spike the plan because that could be interpreted as a rebuff of an offer from three of Clinton’s most vocal and active black supporters.

In fact, the unsolicited plan presents the campaign with a nettlesome dilemma that has prompted intense internal staff debate, officials said. Advocates for the proposal argue that Clinton cannot afford to offend black voters, a traditionally valuable and supportive voting bloc for Democratic presidential candidates. On the other hand, embracing the plan risks a negative reaction from conservative and suburban white voters, who might see the move as a knee-bending concession to black political leaders.

Complicating the matter, the campaign is dealing with the issue as it grapples with attacks by the Bush campaign at its convention and in its aftermath. The Democrats’ once-overwhelming lead in public opinion polls has been narrowed substantially.

For the moment, Clinton officials have been reluctant to spike the plan or to incorporate any of its features into their campaign strategy, saying that they have not made a decision about how to deal with the proposal.

“It’s going to be another three or four weeks before we’ll make a determination,” said Carol Willis, a senior adviser to the Clinton campaign. “We’re looking at it and we’re looking at a couple of other plans that would do the same thing.”

But by delaying, the campaign effectively kills the plan because many of its provisions require timely action.

“Begin a voter registration drive NOW,” the congressmen’s report lists among its most important action items.

At another point, it states: “To maximize black voter turnout on November 3rd, we must begin now to create a mind set as to the urgency/necessity/absolute must of Bill Clinton’s election as President.”

The report was written for the legislators by Bernard Rochon, a New Orleans political consultant. Rochon could not be reached for comment and did not return several calls.

In his report, Rochon urges the Clinton campaign to create a new network of state, county, city, ward, precinct and block coordinators who would attempt to generate excitement in black communities, thus encouraging large numbers of blacks to vote.

Additionally the plan calls for blacks to solicit support from high school teachers and college campus leaders to encourage black students to vote for the ticket of Clinton and his running mate, Sen. Al Gore of Tennessee. “We should target high schools and colleges/universities,” Rochon wrote. “We can realize big numbers fast in these two areas.”

The plan also proposed a budget that included expenditures of $1.9 million for direct mail, $390,000 in administrative costs and $476,000 for stipends to a “field staff” of state, county, city and ward coordinators. Additionally, the plan proposed to spend $20,000 on radio advertising in each of the 12 targeted states.

The states targeted in the proposal are Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Florida, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia.

Willis said that the plan is similar to the campaign’s existing voter outreach efforts but noted that it contains suggestions that differ or could be blended into the campaign’s ongoing strategy.

“We have a plan (to stimulate black voter turnout) for Bill Clinton and it runs close to this plan,” he said. “But we haven’t implemented it yet. There’s plenty of time for us to do that.”

Willis also praised the congressmen for offering ideas on how the campaign might reach black voters, saying that it shows that black leaders “are excited and willing to work” in the black community for the Clinton-Gore ticket.

Espy, Lewis and Jefferson were among the earliest and most outspoken black elected officials to support the Arkansas governor in his presidential campaign and each has accompanied Clinton into black communities. In return, Clinton and his campaign advisers often cited Espy, Lewis and Jefferson as a part of the campaign’s “kitchen cabinet” of black advisers.

The voter registration proposal grew out of private discussions among Clinton and the three congressmen and other black elected officials, including members of the Congressional Black Caucus, Jefferson said.

He said that the three congressmen took it upon themselves to take the initiative to hire a political consultant and devise a strategy for Clinton to guarantee that black voters turn out for him on election day.

Redistricting has helped create 12 new congressional districts in the South that are considered likely to send new black legislators to Congress next year. Many of the candidates for the new majority-black districts were among the officials that joined the congressmen in their Little Rock meeting with Clinton campaign officials.

Political observers, such as Sonia Jarvis of the National Coalition on Black Voter Participation, predict that black voter turnout is unlikely to be high in November without an intensive registration effort.