MLK Reflections

Happy Martin Luther King Day.

At least one political candidate is spending part of the day at an MLK event in Winston-Salem: Jim Neal, a Democrat running for U.S. Senate, is marching today in a parade with the Forsyth County Democrats. Meanwhile, a couple hundred miles south, the Democratic presidential candidates have put recent squabbles over race behind them: Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John Edwards were all scheduled to participate in an NAACP march to the state capitol today. (Clinton, however, missed the march when her flight got delayed.) Tonight they will face off in a debate sponsored by the Congressional Black Caucus.

Trail Mix was reflecting this morning about what it means, 40 years after King’s assassination, to have an African American seriously contending for the presidency. And then that led to thinking about African-American candidates here in North Carolina. Sixteen years ago, Ralph Campbell, Jr. became the first black candidate to be elected to North Carolina’s Council of State, a panel of the state’s top elected executive-branch positions. Campbell served two terms as state auditor.

This year — although North Carolina’s statewide elections feature a large number of women — there are suprisingly few minority candidates. Trail Mix counts two: Eddie Davis, who is running for superintendent of public instruction, and Fred Aikens, who is running for auditor. Both are Democrats, and both are black. That makes two minorities out of at least 33 announced candidates for statewide executive-branch office (although there are a couple of candidates whose race Trail Mix is unaware of). You can see the full list of candidates here.