Hagan refines his remarks on racism and the ’08 race
State Rep. Thomas Letson of Warren, D-64th
Rep. Robert F. Hagan, D-Youngstown. (AP Photo/Larry Phillips)
By Ed Runyan
Race is an issue in the presidential race ‘for some people,’ the state lawmaker said.
WARREN — State Rep. Robert Hagan of Youngstown, D-60th, said he’s had some explaining to do to those who read his comments in a Vindicator article on Tuesday regarding the role of race in this year’s presidential election.
Hagan also went on the Ron Verb show on WKBN radio to talk about it.
Foremost, Hagan said, he wants people to understand that he doesn’t believe all local supporters of Republican presidential candidate John McCain are racists, and he doesn’t believe that a large percentage of local residents are racists.
What he does believe, however, is that some people in the community are allowing race to play a role in their decision on whether to support presidential candidate U.S. Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, whose father was black.
The story in Tuesday’s Vindicator appeared under the headline “Democrats accuse locals of being racist toward Obama.” It quoted Hagan as saying that “the only reason” some swing voters give for being undecided on who to vote for is “race.”
In the same article, state Rep. Thomas Letson of Warren, D-64th, said race is “the only reason people in the Valley won’t vote for” Obama.
Letson was quoted Thursday in the Warren Tribune-Chronicle saying The Vindicator article inaccurately portrayed his views, adding, “There are too many issues in this race, this contest, for it to come down to one issue.”
Letson declined to comment to The Vindicator on Thursday or Friday on the issue.
On Thursday, WKBN-TV showed a portion of an interview it taped with Letson, also available on its Web site, in which he said:
“What is the nose of the camel? The nose of the camel is race. And that is the only reason basically that anyone in this Valley can speak of as to why they would not vote for Sen. Obama. That’s basically it. There are a thousand reasons to vote for him, and there’s only one reason to vote against him.”
During that press conference, a reporter asked Letson, “Are you suggesting that the only reason that those people would say they’re gonna vote for John McCain is race?”
Letson said, “Am I suggesting that? No, I’m pretty sure I stated it.”
Aside from saying he had no comment on the WKBN-TV report or his comments on race, Letson did say that the excerpt of his comments provided by WKBN-TV did not show everything he said.
The issue of race has been getting a lot of discussion in various media in recent weeks.
One source of some of that discussion was an article Hagan said he read in Time magazine written by Jacob Weisberg, which said it is clear that racism explains some of the reasons why Obama doesn’t have a larger lead on McCain at this point.
In the magazine piece, Weisburg says, “If you break the numbers down, the reason Obama isn’t ahead right now is that he trails badly among one group, older white voters. He does so for a simple reason: the color of his skin.”
The article points to a July 2008 CBS/New York Times poll, which says 26 percent of whites say they have been victims of discrimination, 27 percent say too much has been made of the problems facing black people, 24 percent say the country isn’t ready to elect a black president, and 5 percent of white voters acknowledge that they, personally, would not vote for a black candidate.
Hagan said the interview he gave to The Vindicator was not intended to focus on race, but it did come up, and he isn’t saying racism is nonexistent.
“For some people race is an issue — for some people,” Hagan said.
As a result of the original reporting of the news conference, the Letson/Hagan comments were becoming fodder on Internet blogs and even the “Drudge Report” on Friday.
On www.drudgereport.com, by clicking a link titled “Obama surrogates in Ohio claim race is factor in voting,” readers were taken to the WKBN Web site. Conservative radio broadcaster Rush Limbaugh also weighed in on the story during his afternoon show.
runyan@vindy.com