Kentucky Church Bans Interracial Couples

Stella Harville/AP Photo

By CHRISTINA NG

A small Appalachian church in Kentucky is being called racist for passing a vote that banned interracial couples from the church.

The Gulnare Freewill Baptist Church voted 9 to 6 on Sunday to ban interracial couples from church services or functions, with the exception of funerals.
Stella Harville, 24, and her fiance Ticha Chikuni, 28, are the couple that prompted the church's actions. Harville is white and Chikuni is black. The couple met at Georgetown College in Kentucky where both went to school and are scheduled to marry in July 2012.
Harville is in graduate school in Indiana and Chikuni is working at Georgetown College, but when the couple visits Harville's parents in Pike County, Ky., they usually go to church with her parents.
Harville's parents Cathy and Dean Harville have been church members for decades. Cathy Harville has taught Sunday school at the church and Dean Harville was a deacon there and is currently the church's secretary. They consider the church's 42 congregants their family.
But after a service in June where Stella Harville and Chikuni participated by singing and playing the piano for a hymn, the family was shocked when then-pastor Melvin Thompson approached them after the service.
Interracial Couple Prompts Church Ban
"There seemed to not be a problem and then all of a sudden the pastor at the time came up to [Chikuni] and told him he could not sing anymore," Harville said. "That floored us. We wanted to know why."
The next week, Cathy and Dean Harville met with the Thompson and were shocked to hear their pastor say that members of the congregation had said they would walk out if Chikuni sang again. The parents wanted to know exactly who had a problem with their future son-in-law.
"'Me, for one,'" Cathy Harville said that Thompson replied. She said he added, "'The best thing [Stella] can do is take him back where she found him.'" She said the pastor would not tell her any names of people who took issue with Chikuni.
Cathy Harville was taken aback. "There's no love at all in that and that really hurt me," she said. "They are both Christians and they both try to live a Christian life and serve God. There is nothing in the Bible that we found that tells us that the couple should not be married."
Thompson could not be reached for comment.
Thompson has since been replaced with a new pastor who said that everyone was welcome at the church and the Harville family said the issue was dropped, but at a recent meeting Thompson, who is still a member of the congregation, brought up the issue again and asked that it be discussed at a business meeting among the church's men.
"Grown men cried at that meeting," Cathy Harville said. Three men voted to bring the issue before the church for a vote, and two voted against it, so the matter went before the congregation this past Sunday.
Harville said that of 42 members, very few stayed for the meeting after church and even fewer voted. She said most congregants wanted no part in the vote.
The motion read, in part: "The Gulnare Freewill Baptist Church does not condone interracial marriage. Parties of such marriages will not be received as members, nor will they be used in worship services and other church functions, with the exception being funerals."
And: "The recommendation is not intended to judge the salvation of anyone, but indicated to promote greater unity among the church body and the community we serve."

Church Torn by Ban on Interracial CouplesUltimately, nine people voted for the motion and six voted against it and interracial couples were banned.
"It hurt," Harville said. "[Stella] knew she was going to face some challenges after she decided she would marry Ticha, but I didn't think it would be from our family."
Stella Harville and Chikuni did not respond to requests for comment.
Other churches in the community have condemned the decision.
Randy Johnson is the Pike County/Pikeville Area Ministerial Association president. The association is made up of about 60 churches. Johnson said that many people already have "stigmas" and "stereotypes" that they associate with Appalachia and that this decision does not accurately represent the vast majority of the community.
"This really is an anomaly. This is not in any way, shape or form the sentiment of any other local churches or church leaders," Johnson said. "It really has saddened many people. It goes against almost everyone else's philosophy and theology of what it means to be a church."
This weekend, the matter will be up for discussion again at the Sandy Valley Conference for Freewill Baptist Churches. After it is discussed, it may go before the congregation again on Sunday for a vote to repeal the decision.
Stella's father Dean Harville is very much hoping the decision is reversed and it pains him to think about what will happen if it is not.
"It was just a big blow to our family and our church. This does not belong in the church," he said. "If we don't get that solved, we'll definitely leave."

Newt Gingrich: Poor kids don't work "unless it's illegal"

(Credit: AP) 

DES MOINES, Iowa - After saying recently that child labor laws are "truly stupid," Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich on Thursday told an Iowa audience that children in poor neighborhoods have "no habits of working" nor getting paid for their endeavors "unless it's illegal."
"Really poor children in really poor neighborhoods have no habits of working and have nobody around them who works," the former House speaker said at a campaign event at the Nationwide Insurance offices. "So they literally have no habit of showing up on Monday. They have no habit of staying all day. They have no habit of 'I do this and you give me cash,' unless it's illegal."
Gingrich lately has been unspooling an urban policy, beginning with his comments at Harvard University last month when he discussed child labor laws. "It is tragic what we do in the poorest neighborhoods," Gingrich said then, "entrapping children in, first of all, child laws, which are truly stupid."
Children in poor neighborhoods, he said, should be allowed to serve as janitors in their schools to earn money and develop a connection to the school.
Child labor laws were adopted in the early part of the 20th century in response to widespread abuses in factories, where children were forced to work long hours for cheap wages. Groups like the National Child Labor Committee sprang up, and their efforts eventually culminated in adoption of free public education for all children and passage of the Fair Labor Standards Act in 1938, which set federal standards for child labor.
Gingrich suggested that present laws are too rigid. "You have a very poor neighborhood. You have kids who are required under law to go to school," he said. "They have no money. They have no habit of work. What if you paid them part-time in the afternoon to sit at the clerical office and greet people when they came in? What if you paid them to work as the assistant librarian? And I'd pay them as early as is reasonable and practical," he said.
"I am prepared to find something that works, that breaks us out of the cycles we're involved in right now, and finding a way for poor children to learn how to work and learning how to have money that they've earned honestly is an integral part of that," Gingrich told about 400 people, mostly employees, in the Nationwide cafeteria.
Also at the event, he became the second GOP presidential candidate to sign a pledge declaring support for the construction of a fence along the entire U.S. border with Mexico by the end of 2013. Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., has also signed the document by a group called Americans for Securing the Borders.
"We will have absolute control of the border," Gingrich said, adding that as president he would suspend federal regulations that get in the way and would divert half of 23,000 homeland security employees in the Washington area to the Southern border.


Full CBS News coverage: Newt Gingrich 23 Photos Newt Gingrich on the campaign trail View the Full Gallery »

Ex-Florida A&M band leader: I sought crackdown

On Thursday, Florida A&M University today dismissed four students in connection with the death of a member of the school's marching band. Twenty-six-year-old Robert Champion died last month and police say hazing was involved. CBS News correspondent Mark Strassmann looks at the investigation involving one of the nation's most famous marching bands.

The Marching 100 is the face of Florida A&M: high-energy precision performers who have played at presidential inaugurations and Super Bowls.

But the death last month of 26-year-old drum major Robert Champion exposed a scourge the band's longtime director, Dr. Julian White, admits he could not control.

"Would you agree there was a culture of hazing? Strassman asked White.

"There is a culture of hazing," he responded.

White became head band director in 1998. But he was fired four days after Champion was found unresponsive in the band bus.

Florida A&M University dismisses 4 students in connection to band member's death
Florida A&M drum major Robert Champion dies after suspected hazing incident, family to sueFuneral for Florida A&M drum major Robert Champion becomes call to action to end hazing

"When they were giving him CPR, he was on the bus?" Strassman asked.

"Yes," said White.

"Was he conscious?

"No."

The cause of death is still under investigation. But police who interviewed band members believe hazing is to blame. White suspects Champion was beaten in a hazing ritual.

For years, White said he tried to crack down on hazing with workshops and a zero-tolerance policy. But he could not break the band's secret, abusive culture.

"The saxophones are Gestapo," said White. "The clarinets are Clones."

"It's like gang names," commented Strassman.

"Yes."

"Were they like gangs to you that you had to get under control?

"Yes, they were like gangs."

Over the years, White estimates he threw out 100 band members for hazing. He showed CBS News dozens of letters he says he sent to administrators pleading for a tougher response.

"More students should have been terminated from school," White told Strassman.

"Did you push for that, and in some cases not get it?

"Yes, yes."

"You pushed -- 'Get rid of these kids. Bad news.'"

"'They're bad news.'"

"And the response was?"

"The response was, 'We're gonna rehabilitate. We're gonna give them counseling.'"

Just 10 days before Champion's death, White suspended 26 band members for suspected hazing and reported them to the university for rituals such as paddling. It was right before the band's biggest performance of the year.

"I think the university could have not allowed the band to perform at the Florida Classic," said White.

"Had you recommended that?" Strassman asked.

"It was recommended and I supported it. However, the decision was beyond those attending the meeting."

"In other words, the top university officials said the band will perform the show will go on?"

"There was never any question that the band would not perform," said White.

Robert Champion was found on the band bus after that game. Florida A&M officials declined CBS' repeated requests for an interview, but said in a statement, "The university took appropriate action when it was notified [of specific hazing incidents] ... More than anything we want to find out what happened to Robert Champion."
"Shouldn't someone have done more?" Strassman asked White.

"I think more could have been done. I feel very comfortable I did all I could. I'm not proud that I lost one of my children."

Robert Champion was to become the band's head drum major next year.

Family of Preachers: Niece questions absence of God at MLK Memorial

BY WINSTON SKINNER

THE NEWNAN TIMES-HERALD

Dr. Alveda Celeste King comes from a family of preachers, and she wonders why the monument to the most famous of them all -- her uncle, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. -- bears not a single mention of God's name.

Alveda King's father was Alfred Daniel Williams King, the younger brother of the slain Civil Rights icon. When Alveda King was a girl, her father was the pastor of Mt. Vernon First Baptist Church in Newnan for several years.

She commented recently on the MLK Memorial Site in Washington, D.C., which was dedicated this fall. The MLK quotes on the 450-foot wall surrounding the Mountain of Despair and Stone of Hope have received scrutiny and praises from visitors.

"This missed opportunity to carve God's Name on the wall still presents another opportunity. Many people don't know that Uncle M. L. was a preacher of the gospel of Jesus Christ," said Alveda King, founder of King for America.

"It stands to reason that they have never heard of his devotion to Jesus Christ and his message of God's agape love. I wasn't consulted on the design of the site. Still, I see this as a teaching moment to encourage people to read King's sermons," she said.

During a pre-dedication tour, Alveda King asked why the name of God was not inscribed in some of the quotes. She was told that the effort was to be global and universal in scope and that the hope was that people would depart the site wanting to know more about her uncle.

"In the Old Testament, God carved His Word on stones. Today, His Word is inscribed in the human heart," she reflected.

"I don't see this as a politically correct versus spiritually aware type of issue. I see this as an opportunity to witness the love of God and to invite people to read Uncle M. L.'s sermons and learn of his ministry," Alveda King stated.

During the dedication activities, Naomi Barber King, who is the widow of A.D. King and who served and alongside her husband during his time in Newnan, placed a creation video, a copy of The Beloved Community letter and Alveda King's book "How Can the Dream Survive if We Murder the Children?" in the MLK Time Capsule.

Dr. King, 60, was there to support her mother.

Alveda King is a noted pro-life speaker and activist. She has written several books -- including "I Don't Want Your Man, I Want My Own," "Images: A Story of Love and Power," "Who We Are in Christ Jesus" and "Sons of Thunder: The King Family Legacy." She lives in Atlanta and serves on the board of Georgia Right to Life.

Alveda King holds a master of arts degree in business management from Central Michigan University and was granted an honorary doctorate by St. Anselm College.

Dr. King serves as a pastoral associate and director of African-American outreach for Priests for Life and Gospel of Life Ministries. She is also a voice for the Silent No More Awareness Campaign and often shares her testimony -- which includes having two abortions.

She served in the Georgia House of Representatives from 1979-1981, succeeding Virginia Shapard of Griffin. She also ran unsuccessfully for U.S. Congress.

A.D. King became pastor of Mt. Vernon First Baptist Church in Newnan in 1959. "He only pastored four churches, and one of them was Mt. Vernon," Dianne Wood of the African-American Alliance said of A.D. King in a 2009 interview. Mt. Vernon was the first pastorate for the recent Morehouse graduate, and his older brother preached a revival at Mt. Vernon during the time A. D. King was a pastor in Newnan.

A.D. King pastored churches in Birmingham, Ala. and Louisville, Ky. before returning to historic Ebenezer Baptist Church, where he was co-pastor with his father after the murder of Martin Luther King Jr. The co-pastorate at the historic Atlanta church lasted only about a year until A.D. King's death under mysterious circumstances.

Alveda King, her father and her uncle are not the only pastors in her family. Her grandfather, Dr. Martin Luther King Sr., and her great-grandfather, Adam Daniel Williams, were both pastors of Ebenezer Baptist in Atlanta.

Bernice Albertine King, the youngest child of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., is also a minister.

In September, Alveda King spoke at an anti-abortion meeting at Calvary Christian Church in Fredericksburg. Terry Beatley, president of No Excuse Ministry PAC, invited Dr. King to the Virginia meeting. Beatley said she met Alveda King about a year ago.

While Alveda King does not endorse political candidates, she did commend the the California Civil Rights Foundation "for bringing clarity in the case of certain charges against Herman Cain," according to Christian Newswire.

Alveda King noted blacks remain the highest percentages of unemployed, far higher than any other racial or ethnic group. Blacks also make up the highest percentage of unwed mothers and those who have abortions.

"In stark contrast to the failed vision of many far-left black leaders, Mr. Cain believes in empowerment -- not entitlement," Alveda King said. "Mr. Cain's goal is to help improve all quality of life."

Alveda King explained that she is not endorsing candidates -- "choosing the path of policy over politics." She has said she is, however, "intrigued" by Cain's candidacy and described the black Republican candidates as "a breath of fresh air."

She also was part of a group of black pro-life leaders who affirmed Cain's pro-life position. In addition to Alveda King, those issuing the statement were Stephen E. Broden, pastor of Fair Park Bible Fellowship, Dallas, Texas; Catherine Davis, founder, Restoration Project, Atlanta; Dr. Day Gardner, president, National Black Pro-Life Union, Washington, D.C.; Walter B. Hoye ll, Issues 4 Life Foundation, Union City, Calif.; and Dean Nelson, vice president, Frederick Douglass Foundation, Washington, D.C.

Condi Rice: U.S. will never be "race blind"

Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said America has come a long way in confronting racial inequality - but that America will never be "race blind," and that race and poverty in America is "still a terrible witch's brew."

Rice, appearing in Sunday's special Thanksgiving edition of "Face the Nation," reflected on how growing up in Birmingham, Ala., during segregation "shaped me fundamentally."

"My family had to persevere under those circumstances to educate all of us, and to insist that we might not be able to control our circumstances but we could control our response," Rice told CBS' Bob Schieffer.

Since those days, Rice argued, a lot of things have changed.

"We have a black president. We've had two black secretaries of state. We have black CEOs. Obviously African Americans are pushing way into territories that, probably, my grandparents would never have thought possible," she said.

Still, she argued that even though America has "gotten to a place [where] race is not the limiting factor that it once was," she said that "we're never going to erase race as a factor in American life."

"It is a birth defect with which this country was born out of slavery; we're never really going to be race blind," she said.

She pointed to the confluence of race and poverty as a particularly troubling constraint for overcoming inequality, and wondered if that problem isn't becoming even more exacerbated in recent years.

"I think it goes back to whether or not race and class - that is, race and poverty - is not becoming even more of a constraint," she said. "Because with the failing public schools, I worry that the way that my grandparents got out of poverty, the way that my parents became educated, is just not going to be there for a whole bunch of kids. And I do think that race and poverty is still a terrible witch's brew."

Steve Jobs biographer Walter Isaacson, also appearing on the show, recalled how growing up in New Orleans during segregation gave him a heightened sensitivity to inequality in America.

"You really do have an antenna for race," he said. "I remembered a sign on the merry-go-round that said, 'White Only.' I was six years old, and so I'd never focused on what that meant. And, boom, it kicked me right then that, 'Oh my God, that's what that sign means.' And I kept insisting we not go there. Even in [New Orleans'] Audubon Park then, they had closed the swimming pool because it had been ordered integrated. And we led a group of young kids and forced them to reopen the swimming pool."

"I think we have some common experiences with segregation," Rice told Isaacson, laughing. "I didn't learn to swim until I was 25," because of Birmingham's segregated pools.

Atlanta Emerges as a Black Entertainment Mecca

Rich Addicks for The New York Times

Fans cheered as celebrities arrived at the Soul Train Awards at Atlanta's Fox Theater last week.

By KIM SEVERSON

ATLANTA - Cynthia Bailey, arguably the most glamorous of the "Real Housewives of Atlanta," shivered in a sleeveless red shift, microphone in hand.

It was oddly cold, but the intrepid model carried on. She had a job to do: interviewing the talent that swaggered down the red carpet for the Soul Train Awards.

All along the police barriers that closed down Peachtree Street, fans screamed and elbowed one another for a better view. Those lucky enough to have tickets slipped into the Fox Theater, all glittery and prepared to party.

This was celebrity black Atlanta at its best.

A few years ago, the city probably would not have been able to pull off such a show. But fueled by a generous entertainment tax credit, the migration of affluent African-Americans from the North and the surprising fact that even celebrities appreciate the lower cost of living here, this capital of the Deep South is emerging as an epicenter of the black glitterati.

"It's so ripe with African-American flavor and talent," said Stephen Hill, an executive vice president for Black Entertainment Television, which will show the awards Sunday night.

"Atlanta is home to our core audience," he said. "I'm trying not to make it a racial thing, but Atlanta is our New York, our L.A."

To be sure, Atlanta has long had a high concentration of well-connected, affluent blacks. But the Atlanta area is now home to such a critical mass of successful actors, rappers and entertainment executives that few would argue its position as the center of black culture. Tyler Perry and his movie and television empire are based here. Sean Combs has a house in a suburb north of the city. The musicians Cee Lo Green, Ludacris and members of OutKast call it home. So does the music producer and rapper Jermaine Dupri.

Gladys Knight, an Atlanta native who was honored at the awards, which were taped Nov. 17, runs a chicken and waffle restaurant here. And it is not unusual to spot Usher at one of the city's better restaurants.

"It seems like everything is happening here now," said Dave Hollister, an R&B singer who spends a lot of time in Atlanta. "It feels like New York used to feel with a little more nicety."

Atlanta's A-list evolution was driven in part by the state's 2008 Entertainment Industry Investment Act, which gives qualified productions a 20 percent tax break, said Warrington Hudlin, president of the Black Filmmaker Foundation, which is based in New York.

Producers who embed a Georgia promotional logo in the titles or credits can take another 10 percent off the tax bill. In the last fiscal year, $683.5 million worth of production - music videos, television shows and movies - was staged here.

"Atlanta is really becoming the black Hollywood," Mr. Hudlin said. Because many black filmmakers are working on tighter budgets than white filmmakers, they need to save money and Georgia helps them do that, he said.

And producers of films and shows like the Soul Train Awards can find a variety of people to fill sets and seats. "This is one of our strengths, the diversity of people in Atlanta," said Lee Thomas, director of the state's Film, Music and Digital Entertainment Office. "It's something we have over, say, Canada."

The growth has also been fed by a decade of migration of blacks from the North. Nearly a quarter of a million blacks moved to the greater Atlanta area from outside the South between 2005 and 2010, making it the metro area with the largest number of black residents after New York.

More than a third of the new migrant households made more than $50,000 a year. One of the newcomers is Jasmine Guy, the actress whose most famous role was Whitley Gilbert on the sitcom "A Different World." She was raised in Atlanta but spent 30 years in New York and Los Angeles.

She moved back three years ago, largely because she finds Atlanta offers an easier, gentler life for her family.

"At first I thought, how am I going to work?" she said. "But I have not stopped working since."

In addition to acting, she directs and teaches younger actors. Like others in Atlanta's black elite, she likes the fact that she finds herself among the majority at art museums and sophisticated restaurants.

And an added bonus? Paparazzi activity is at a minimum, but stars still get to feel like stars.

"They get the love and attention here like they wouldn't get in New York," said Kelley Carter, a pop culture journalist who has worked her share of rope lines and writes for publications like Ebony and Jet. She recently moved to Atlanta from Los Angeles herself.

It also doesn't hurt that real estate here costs much less than in New York or Los Angeles.

"You can stretch a dollar more here," said Malcolm-Jamal Warner, who played Theo in "The Cosby Show" and has been in Atlanta shooting a new sitcom, "Reed Between the Lines," for BET.

"Atlanta affords you a different kind of vibe," he said. "A little more warmth."

But like several people interviewed, he's not ready to say that Atlanta can best New York or Los Angeles.

Lance Gross is a star in the Tyler Perry constellation who spends part of his time in Atlanta. "A lot of people come through here," he said, "but I can't give it to Atlanta yet."

Ms. Bailey, the "Housewives" star, still takes monthly trips to New York for what she calls a culture fix.

But she is investing in Atlanta, and recently opened the Bailey Agency - School of Fashion to help connect Atlanta's most promising models with power players in the fashion world.

"Atlanta in two or three years is going to be perfect," she said.

Maybe. The comedian Cedric the Entertainer, who hosted the Soul Train Awards, said Atlanta had always been a black mecca and continues to be one. He used to travel to the city when he was growing up in St. Louis. The city just keeps improving, he said. The talent pool gets bigger every day, which makes it easy to stage shows here.

"You can make some quick calls and say, 'I had a fall-out. Let's see if Ludacris can stop by,' " he said. "You have the real down-home love and you have a lot of transplants who give it a real sexy, young progressive energy."

But, he said, Georgia will always be Georgia.

"It's serious business down here but at the same time they're still country," he said. "I mean, sweet tea don't go with everything."

Robbie Brown contributed reporting.

Earl Ofari Hutchinson: GOP will Close Down Cain’s Sideshow Act

http://www.eurweb.com

*GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain was predictably defiant when a pack of GOP pundits and insiders strongly hinted that he should fold up his candidacy tent. Cain said he was in the race to stay and did his by now patented bizarre, double-speak, Bill Clinton style denial that he did not have sex with that woman.

The woman in this case is Ginger White, the latest in the legion of alleged Cain targeted sexual victims to come forth and wag the “inappropriate” conduct finger at Cain. But Cain’s defiance and defense was just a sideshow act to cover a candidacy that was never really a candidacy to begin with.

Almost certainly the most surprised guy in the house at his string of straw polls wins in a few states was Cain. But Cain’s sideshow trail of wins served several purposes. It fanned the delusion that a man with no money, no political organization, no protracted work in primary states developing crucial party ties and loyalties, was actually a credible presidential contender.

That didn’t much matter since Cain gave the media and much of the public something that the GOP presidential candidate’s circus team didn’t and that was a flamboyant, sound bite spewing, political oddity. Cain spiced things up and that insured that every Cain inanity, gaffe, and malapropism would be the stuff of instant headlines and news bites.  The lengthening trail of allegations of sexual harassment and affairs hurled at Cain was the topper.  It pushed Cain from political curiosity to a hot ticket item with the media in an eternal hunt for the latest sex, salacious, titillation news peg.

Cain’s sexual woes initially made him serviceable in another strange way. He now conferred a sort of respectability on the other GOP contenders that had been stunningly lacking in recent weeks. As the GOP candidates went from dull to predictable to laughable in their debate performances, the great fear was that the GOP’s holy crusade to oust President Obama in 2012 would sink in a wash of vitriol, clownishness and the resultant public disgust. However, Cain presented an almost perfectly timed distraction that gave his GOP presidential aspiring counterparts time and breathing space to take the high ground, talk the issues of the economy, budget, and defense, without having to worry that the latest Cain goofball pronouncement or antic would further sully their image.

The best example of that is Newt Gingrich. Before Cain’s spectacular blow-up, Gingrich’s campaign was on bare life support. He wallowed in the lowest single digits in voter support. He was a tired war horse, that was seen as just along for the ride, media attention, and ego boost. Cain’s equally spectacular fall helped change that. Gingrich now finds himself the new GOP flavor of the month and going toe to toe with Romney in GOP voter approval. He’s labeled the political erudite, fount of policy wisdom, and party respectability. He even managed to get a kind word from Bill Clinton.

With the dice suddenly rolling in his favor, Gingrich moved quickly to pull off the tricky delicate balancing act of trying to appeal to moderate independents with a softer tact on immigration, while at the same time, trying to usurp Cain as the darling of GOP ultra conservatives and Tea Party leaders and followers. Cain’s public fall also gives the other candidates added value to pose as the ABR (that’s anybody but Romney) alternative. As the perfect pitched blend of businessman, proverbial political maverick, and hard core ultra conservative, Cain for a time seemed to be the most effective at stoking that sentiment among Romney doubters. These are the voters that are the most likely to vote in the official Iowa GOP Caucus in January and a few weeks ago said that they were three times more likely to back Cain over Romney.

Even if Cain officially limped along in the race for a while longer, it wouldn’t change things for the GOP mainstream leaders, hard-nosed GOP political operatives, and the big gun financial donors. From the start, they treated Cain’s candidacy as the fun and games, amusing, sideshow act that it was; an act that was destined to fade into the sunset, when it came time for the serious voting next year. After all straw polls with a handful of respondents in a handful of states months before the first real ballot is scheduled to be cast in a legitimate primary can hardly be considered to be any bellwether of voter sentiment.

Cain’s first reaction to the long term sexual affair allegation was to dig in his heels and say he’s in the race for the long haul. He could do that precisely because his candidacy was never about winning the GOP nomination but hyping Cain. A hype the GOP went along with because it kept the press fixated on the GOP presidential hopefuls, revved up a disjointed, disgruntled, and dismayed GOP party faithful, and blunted the withering attacks that the GOP was a pack of unreconstructed bigots and race baiters. Cain drop out of the race? No the GOP simply will close down its amusing but suddenly costly and embarrassing sideshow act.

Earl Ofari Hutchinson is an author and political analyst. He is a weekly co-host of the Al Sharpton Show on American Urban Radio Network. He is the author of How Obama Governed: The Year of Crisis and Challenge. He is an associate editor of New America Media. He is host of the weekly Hutchinson Report Newsmaker Hour on KTYM Radio Los Angeles streamed on ktym.com podcast on blogtalkradio.com and on thehutchinsonreportnews.com
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