THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Saturday, February 15, 1997           TAG: 9702150018
SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A12  EDITION: FINAL 
TYPE: Editorial 
                                            LENGTH:   42 lines

INCREASED TURNOUT BY BLACK MALE VOTERS POLITICIANS TAKE NOTE

``Soccer moms'' may have dominated last fall's pre-election political analyses. But it was another demographic group - black males - that should have made headlines.

In November 1996, voter turnout declined 14 percent over 1992 among white women, 8 percent among black women and 8 percent among white males. But the participation of black males soared upward 55 percent. About 4.8 million African-American men voted, 1.7 million more than in the past presidential race.

The remarkable increase is variously attributed to the influence of The Million Man March, the popularity of President Clinton among black males and vote-targeting efforts by the Democratic National Committee.

But whatever the cause, the result is obvious. Both Democratic and Republican strategists are looking with renewed interest at a group that has often been absent at the ballot box and ignored when the spoils of victory were divided.

It is no accident that Rep. J. C. Watts, an Oklahoma Republican who is black, was chosen to deliver the GOP's response to Clinton's State of the Union message. Or that House Speaker Newt Gingrich invited the Rev. Jesse Jackson to be his guest for Clinton's speech.

Republican politicians generally are paying closer attention to African-American concerns. In Virginia, Attorney General Jim Gilmore, the GOP candidate for governor this fall, has waged a widely publicized campaign against church burnings. In New Jersey, the only other state electing a governor this year, Republican incumbent Christine Todd Whitman is reaching out to black political organizations she previously ignored.

Black males accounted for only about 5 percent of the vote in the presidential election, the same percentage as black females. But when voting among the rest of the population is stagnant, a significant fluctuation in a minority group can impact outcomes.

It is a healthy development that black males in increasing number are recognizing the right and responsibility to vote. It is healthier still that politicians are opening their doors in response.