"This is a race between traditional political machines and more independent voters," says Davis, who says that in his district the Hilliard-backing machine has "steadily withered" over the last four election cycles. "We're entering a phase when black voters will be more independent-minded," he says, repeating the conclusions of the Joint Center's study.

In that sense, some previous races with similar dynamics may show both the promise and the limitations of this changing of the guard. In 1994, two entrenched and somewhat wanting black incumbent congressmen were successfully challenged by young black pols. Houston City Councilwoman Sheila Jackson Lee beat Rep. Craig Washington, D-Texas, and while Lee has proved to be more pro-business and a bit more mainstream than her predecessor, she too has become a source of some controversy, being chauffeured by a staffer from her home every morning to the Capitol one block away, having temper tantrums on flights when her various needs weren't met, tearing through and using up staffers like a flu patient with a box of Kleenex.

That same year in Philadelphia, however, then-state Sen. Chaka Fattah, 36, felled 62-year-old Rep. Lucien "The Solution" Blackwell, D-Penn., in the primary. Blackwell was propped up by the entire city power structure -- then-Mayor Ed Rendell and then-City Council president (and current mayor) John Street included. But Fattah won, becoming one of the more impressive liberal voices in Congress in the process, developing a real leadership role on education issues and demonstrating an ability to reach across the aisle and find common ground with conservative Republicans.

And in Georgia right now, Democratic Rep. Cynthia McKinney is facing a surprisingly strong contest in her primary from former state Judge Denise Majette. This is no generational challenge; both women are in their 40s. But McKinney -- who seemed to insinuate that the Bush administration allowed Sept. 11 to happen so its corporate buddies could subsequently make money -- belongs to a somewhat discredited old school of firebrand, and factually challenged, politics.

She's also seemed to go out of her way to stoke her constituents' paranoia of a Jewish conspiracy. Like Hilliard, McKinney has taken a controversial approach to the Middle East conflict, hiring as her press secretary a man who had worked for two organizations reportedly linked to the terrorist group Hamas. (He later resigned after writing a letter to a Capitol Hill newspaper calling it "disturbing" that Jewish members of Congress "sit on the House International Relations Committee despite the obvious conflict of interest that their emotional attachments to Israel cause ... The Israeli occupation of all territories must end, including Congress.") After Mayor Rudy Giuliani turned down the $10 million check from Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal after the prince suggested the United States rethink its support for Israel, McKinney generously offered to take the check to fund various black causes.

The Atlanta Business Chronicle recently wrote that "Majette is seen as closer to the new type of African-American leadership that is emerging nationally -- liberal but more inclined to form coalitions. Like other emerging African-American leaders, she is conscious of the emerging African-American middle class in the suburbs, long ignored by McKinney ... It will be a referendum on [the incumbent] and her brand of politics. Voters will decide if they want a flamboyant representative who makes headlines for opposing sanctions in Iraq or one who makes headlines for bringing services into the community."

And McKinney has responded somewhat predictably to her new challenger, painting Majette as -- you guessed it -- a tool of whitey. "Denise Majette's candidacy is a Trojan Horse for the good old boys from the bad old days," one of McKinney's campaign statements recently proclaimed.

Booker asserts that his race, and similar ones, indicate that black politics are, in the end, just like everyone else's. "Every ethnic group in every political system tries to resist change," he says. "From Congress all the way down to local government, incumbents have power. Go back and read the Federalist Papers -- the system is designed not to resist change." He quotes Frederick Douglass, who said, "Power concedes nothing without a demand."

There has been some tension between the Democratic House leadership and the Congressional Black Caucus over how much money should be directed toward Hilliard for his primary race against Davis. But for the most part, Davis has seen civil rights heroes like Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., campaign for his opponent despite Hilliard's ethical problems. And Booker saw himself slammed by not only the usual race-baiters like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, but by every major politician in New Jersey -- including Democratic Sens. Bob Torricelli and Jon Corzine, and Gov. James McGreevey, who told voters that if they reelected James, Newark would get a stadium for the state's pro NHL and NBA teams. "Newark, you give me Sharpe James, you get the Devils and Nets!"

After James was elected, those plans seemed to go the way of the Nets' NBA championship hopes. The question for the Democratic Party is how much longer it will keep attaching itself to related, similarly empty promises.

Recent Stories