H. Carl Mccall for Governor: A Lesson to All Black High-Profile Statewide Office Seekers (Report‪)‬

INTRODUCTION African Americans have failed miserably at winning high-profile statewide offices. Only U.S. Senator Edward W. Brooke III (Mass.), Governor L. Douglas Wilder (VA), U.S. Senators Carol Moseley Braun and Barack Obama of Illinois and the recently elected governor of Massachusetts--Deval Patrick have ever been elected to high-profile statewide office. The reasons for blacks' lack of success run the gamut. Some argue that the race factor has prevented blacks from capturing these offices. In other words, most whites are unwilling to support black high-profile statewide office seekers. Others maintain that blacks have failed to win these offices because they have been poorly qualified. Simply put, whites voted against black high-profile statewide candidates because of weak credentials not because of the candidate's race. This argument is not without merit as a number of less than qualified blacks have indeed run for high-profile statewide office over the years. Alan Keyes is one such example. Although he had no experience in an elected office, Keyes ran for the United States Senate on at least three different occasions in two different states losing each time. Rev. Maurice Dawkins challenged the popular Chuck Robb for the U.S. Senate in the late 1980s losing badly. Like Keyes, Dawkins was also a political neophyte.