Cranley stumps for black votes

1st Congressional District candidate John Cranley zeroed in on African-American voters Sunday morning, with help from two Aflrican-American congresswomen.

Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones of Cleveland and Rep. Gwen Moore, a Democrat from Milwaukee, showed up in Cincinnat Sunday morning to join Cranley as he shook hands with church-goers at Allen Temple AME Church in Bond Hill.

Later, Jones and Moore - who were both at a Sherrod Brown event in Cleveland Saturday with Sen. Barack Obama - traveled to Forest Park with Cranley for breakfast at Frisch's Big Boy and another round of hand-shaking at African-American churches.

Jones said that the key for candidates like Cranley and other Democratic congressional candidataes is turning out voters who came out in 2004 to vote for John Kerry but who often skip mid-term elections.

This year, the Democrats have the right message for those voters, Jones said.

"Two years ago, we were out talking about bread-and-butter issues and the voters were voting on something else, like national security,'' Jones said. "This looks like a bread-and-butter year to me."