In the next few months, TV spots in New Hampshire will start promoting an African American candidate described as a rising star of a new generation, with Chicago roots, Ivy League credentials and a message of hope and idealism.
But Sen. Barack Obama's ads won't be the first such appeal heard in New Hampshire. Just one year ago, many voters who watch Boston television received a similar message from another youthful-looking black Democrat on the rise, Massachusetts gubernatorial candidate Deval L. Patrick.
"To some extent,
has laid the groundwork for Obama and the way he campaigns," said Dan Payne, a Boston-based Democratic strategist who briefly advised Patrick.
Although Obama (Ill.) has forged a path as the first African American with a serious chance of becoming president, his rise coincides with the emergence of a whole cohort of black politicians who share similar résumés and ideology. Raised in the post-civil rights era, they attended elite schools, built coalitions of white and black supporters, and cast themselves as agents of change, even if they were running to succeed other African Americans.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/27/AR2007072702455.html