---Newsweek explores the way women vote---
In the September 22 Newsweek cover story, "What Women Want," (on newsstands Monday, September 15), Senior Editor Julia Baird writes that "what is now known as the Palin Effect seems to be overturning almost a century of wisdom about the way women think and vote." She adds, "Republican women, who have long been loath to vote for mothers of small children, are suddenly defending the right of women, or a woman, rather, to return to work three days after giving birth, and to seek higher office with five kids -- one of whom is a pregnant teenager, and another a newborn with Down syndrome." Baird notes that the support for Palin along gender lines is understandable, but the past suggests that issues of policy could still trump the politics of identity. In the Newsweek Poll, asked if Palin made them more likely to vote for McCain, 14 percent of Clinton supporters said yes. But since our previous poll, in July, the number of them who say they will vote for Obama rather than McCain has gone up by seven percent.

Condoleeza Rice


John McCain, George W. Bush

Barack Obama

Business World Index

--- U.S. Secretary of  State Condoleeza Rice speaks out---
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice recently called the paucity of Black Americans at her agency "unacceptable," saying that she would like see more African American students interested in foreign affairs careers. Speaking in Washington, D.C. at a conference convened by the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Rice commented on how she can participate in an entire day of meetings at the agency without seeing "somebody who looks like her." She later called on HBCUs and other conference attendees to help address this disparity. For the past fourteen years, the Institute for International Public Policy (IIPP), a program of the United Negro College Fund Special Programs Corporation (UNCFSP) has worked to increase the number of students from HBCUs participating in the IIPP's Fellowship Program. The Fellowship -- which also includes Hispanic Americans, Native Americans and Asian-Pacific Islanders -- is one of the nation's most prestigious programs for minority students interested in pursuing careers in international affairs.

---CampaignWatch 2008---
The Democratic National Committee recently released a 65-page report illustrating that after 26 years in Washington, John McCain is trying to recast himself as a reformer, but just recently he named long-time Washington lobbyist William E. Timmons, Sr. as his senior advisor for a possible McCain Presidential transition team. The report, entitled "No Reformer: McCain Puts Lobbyists First While Americans Struggle," outlines what four more years under McCain's industry-driven policy and insider politics would mean for Americans. The report suggests that McCain simply can't fix a problem he's been part of for three decades. (Photo credit: Joyce N. Boghosian)

---Obama for America---
In the face of declining economic indicators for African American families across the country, former cabinet officers and economic experts said that Barack Obama has a plan to bring our economy back from the brink while John McCain offers more of the same failed policies of the Bush Administration. Former Labor Secretary Alexis Herman and Howard University Economics Chair Dr. William Spriggs discussed the economic challenges for African American families right now including the rising costs for energy and food, falling wages, and double digit unemployment numbers as the campaign enters the final weeks before Election Day. The news for African American families worsened with the release of the national unemployment numbers reflecting a rate of 10.6 percent with more than 500,000 jobs lost since George Bush and Dick Cheney went to Washington in 2001.  With more than 1.9 million African Americans out of work, McCain, the Republican presidential nominee who has voted in support of President Bush’s proposals 90 percent of the time, has vowed to continue the same economic policies that send big tax cuts to companies, force jobs overseas, and undermine the work of everyday Americans.
 
--Black women and money---
Black women worry more about their finances than their health, appearance, job or relationships. And, nearly 70% do not have a professional financial advisor. Most Black women are confident in their ability to achieve their financial goals, but obligations to others combined with a tendency to spend are complicating their saving and investing efforts, according to the results of a nationwide survey by the ING Foundation. Nearly half (47%) of the 1,000 Black women surveyed said it is difficult to have their desired lifestyle because of financial obligations to their immediate family, and 68% say that they buy what they want - in a good or bad economy. One quarter of those Black women surveyed say they are not saving any of their household income on a monthly basis and 43% report total savings of less than $10,000. Over half of Black women say that they live "paycheck to paycheck."

---Keshia Knight Pulliam: ‘Cosby Show’ kid returns to comedy TV ---
The September 15 issue of JET magazine features Keshia Knight Pulliam. Television child star Keshia Knight Pulliam, 29, has certainly “outgrown” her role as the adorable Rudy Huxtable of the family sitcom, The Cosby Show. The talented actress has made a name for herself by turning her childhood success into solid adult roles. Pulliam has gone from working with one heavy-hitter, the legendary Bill Cosby, to another, Tyler Perry, a film/TV/theater legend in the making. A new generation is now enjoying her talents each week on the top-rated TBS sitcom Tyler Perry’s House of Payne as Miranda. "It’s wonderful to work with someone like Tyler Perry who is an innovator in everything he’s done,” said Pulliam. What’s next for Pulliam? Early next year she will star in the film Tyler Perry’s Madea Goes to Jail. Pulliam will portray a troubled prostitute named Candy. “I was so excited to play this role", she said It’s so ‘out the box’ from anything that anyone has seen of me. I know people will be shocked because they grew up with me as a child.”