Jeff Smith: Can Mia Love Turn the Tide for Black Voters, GOP?

Sure, she has a chance.

Anytime you’ve got an R after your name, and you’re running in the most Republican state in the country with the best political name in the nation (from a Utahn perspective) topping your ticket, you have a chance.

But it’s just wishful thinking to say that she’ll garner more black GOP support. Allen West and Tim Scott haven’t done so; Michael Steele didn’t do so last cycle.

Mia Love

Data suggests that someone a lot higher profile (Rubio) has been unable to do so for Latinos.

Although, I’m sure the Republicans will have her onstage 12 hours a day in Tampa. Of course, that will be targeted at suburban white women more than at blacks; they’re smart enough to realize that Obama is going to get 90 percent of the black vote regardless.

And as long as there are state Republican parties hosting conventions where bullet-riddled outhouses decorated as Obama presidential libraries are seen as funny jokes, that will never change.

(Cross-posted, with permission of the author, from Politico’s Arena)