ATLANTA - Linda and Mathis Wright, a couple from Americus, Ga., are among the most enthusiastic of Georgia Democrats. But as they considered their options in tomorrow's presidential primary, the angst of the historic moment was apparent.
Linda Wright wore campaign buttons for both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. She said she was "leaning more toward Hillary because of her experience." But she left open the possibility of voting for Obama.
Mathis Wright, meanwhile, sported an Obama button. But he said he was wearing it to be polite and planned to vote for Clinton. Yet he sounded unsure as well. "I almost feel as if I am going against my own race," Mathis Wright, an African-American, said. "It is voting because of who I really think could win in November."
The plight of the Wrights reflected the mood among a number of Democratic voters interviewed last week as they tried to decide between one historic choice and another, backing either the first African-American or first woman to be the party's presidential nominee. This quandary is especially evident in the South, where the four states holding primaries on Super Tuesday - Georgia, Alabama, Arkansas, and Tennessee - all have large African-American populations, but also strong allegiances to Clinton and her husband, the former president. Combined, the four states offer 242 of the 1,678 Democratic delegates up for grabs.
Clinton, whose standing among African-Americans has declined in the polls in recent weeks after some Democrats believed she and her husband attacked Obama unfairly in South Carolina, is hoping to pick up former backers of John Edwards, who dropped out of the contest last week. In addition, she is banking on the influence of black supporters such as Representative John Lewis of Georgia, the famed civil rights leader.
But Lewis, who endorsed Clinton last October, is the first to say how difficult the decision has been for many Georgians and how unpredictable the race has become.
"Families are torn," Lewis said in an interview. "Husband and wives, mothers and children, fathers and children. People are torn. It is very hard, it is very difficult not just for African-Americans, but tough for a lot of Democrats. They wish they didn't have to make the decision but they have to make it."
Clinton hopes to win in Arkansas, where her husband was governor. She is also considered strong in Tennessee. Obama is considered strongest in Alabama, followed by Georgia. But he hopes for a strong showing in all four states, expecting the same strong participation by black voters and younger white voters who propelled him to an overwhelming victory in South Carolina last month.
Andra Gillespie, an Emory University professor of political science who is a specialist in race and politics, said Obama and Clinton both have strong supporters among African-Americans, making the contests difficult to predict. She said the major question is whether Obama's strong support in South Carolina will be equaled in other Southern races. About 55 percent of Democratic voters in South Carolina's primary were black, and 78 percent of them supported Obama, according to exit polls. If recent statewide contests are a guide, the percentages of black voters could be about 50 percent in Georgia, 45 percent in Alabama, and 30 percent in Tennessee. But large numbers of new voters have registered in recent months.
"If South Carolina is a harbinger of things to come, it seems like the African-American vote is consolidating around Barack Obama," she said. Nonetheless, he needs an overwhelming percentage of the black vote, as well as significant white support, to win in Southern states, she said.
Until a few months ago, Clinton was steadily picking up endorsements from black leaders and leading in polls throughout much of the South. But following Obama's victories in Iowa and South Carolina, the same surveys show many black voters moving to Obama, and endorsements have come his way. For example, in Alabama, where Clinton last October won the much-sought endorsement of the Alabama Democratic Conference, an influential group of black leaders, Obama's support among black voters has jumped dramatically in the last several weeks.
Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin initially hoped to keep her preference private. She said she has dedicated her life to her belief that women can and should be leaders, so she was proud that Clinton was making a serious bid for the White House. But, as an African-American, she felt equally proud about Obama, a view that was solidified when Obama won in Iowa, a state that has a black population of only 2.5 percent.
Last month, she announced her support for Obama and she delivered what was perceived as a rebuke to Bill Clinton for his role in the race. Speaking in Atlanta, with the former president sitting in the audience, she said in a speech in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. that Obama's campaign was "not fantasy or fairy tales." Clinton had said in New Hampshire that Obama's claim to be consistently opposed to the Iraq war was a "fairy tale."
"I did not like two candidates running against one," she said in an interview last week. "I prefer the effort when she is running and not Bill and Hillary Clinton running."
The Clinton campaign, however, still views Bill Clinton as an invaluable asset. On Friday, with just 24 hours notice, the campaign arranged for the former president to speak at Kennesaw State University, 25 miles north of Atlanta, filling a gymnasium with several thousand people. Clinton seemed well aware of criticism that her husband's bashing of Obama - and the perception that he has injected racial issues into the campaign - has backfired. Clinton not only avoided saying anything negative about Obama, but he also celebrated his candidacy.
In most elections, Clinton told the students, many voters believe they are choosing the lesser of two evils. "We don't have to feel that way this year," Clinton said. "We don't have to be against anybody. That is just great."
While Clinton spent most of the speech vouching for his wife's plans on healthcare, the mortgage crisis, and education, he used a plural reference while spelling out how his wife's election would change Washington: "So here's our plan: End cronyism and only appoint competent people," Clinton said.
But the key to the contest might be learned from one of those who introduced Clinton at Kennesaw. The student said that she had been a supporter of Edwards, but switched to Clinton. Edwards, who won a majority of white male voters in South Carolina, had been pulling 13 percent in a survey of Georgia Democrats completed shortly before he left the race last week.
It is not clear how many voters will take a similar path. Bill Yeatman, a voter from Warner Robins, Ga., was among the Edwards supporters looking for a new candidate last week. "My candidate dropped out," Yeatman said. "I don't know what I'm going to do."
Michael Kranish can be reached at kranish@globe.com
