Obama looking to build black caucus vote

DES MOINES, Iowa, Jan. 2 (UPI) -- Democratic presidential contender Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., said his campaign rises above the color of his skin despite a vigorous courting of Iowa's blacks.

Obama officially stumped hard to transcend the racial issue in his campaign platform but The New York Times Wednesday said the Obama campaign oversaw the most ambitious courting of Iowa's 60,000 African-American citizens in the history of the state process.

Blacks make up the majority in 50 out of the 1,781 precincts in Iowa but Obama's strategists said the black population is diluted enough to draw out support from across the state, the Times reported.

"In the past month or so, the Clinton campaign has really been pushing hard to key people in the community," said one of the state's black potential caucus-goers in the Times. "They have a good approach and everything but we know who we want to support. We're committed to Senator Obama."

A Des Moines Register poll showed 2 percent of potential Democratic caucus-goers are black but Obama's team said a rallying black community in Iowa may increase the likelihood of Americans electing their first black president.