// BEGIN editorial data
 var i = 0;
var ElectionIssues_BlackVoters = new Array();
ElectionIssues_BlackVoters.ID = "ElectionIssues_BlackVoters";
ElectionIssues_BlackVoters.ID_WB = 6276717;
ElectionIssues_BlackVoters.sPubDate = "10/18/2004 11:41:46 PM GMT";
ElectionIssues_BlackVoters.navsectionID = "3032552"
ElectionIssues_BlackVoters.appFmt = 2;
ElectionIssues_BlackVoters.itemsPerPage = 1;
ElectionIssues_BlackVoters.appWidth = 460;
ElectionIssues_BlackVoters.appHeader = "The bread-and-butter issues";
ElectionIssues_BlackVoters.appFooter = "Source: MSNBC research";
ElectionIssues_BlackVoters.appNavStyle = 3;
ElectionIssues_BlackVoters.appLayout = 3;
ElectionIssues_BlackVoters.copyHeight = 150;
ElectionIssues_BlackVoters.copyWidth = 330;
ElectionIssues_BlackVoters.copyMargin = 9;
ElectionIssues_BlackVoters[i++] = new Array("","Poverty","","","","", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "");
ElectionIssues_BlackVoters[i-1].body = "The number of Americans living in poverty has grown every year President Bush has been in office. A <a href=http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6228704 target=_blank>study issued this month</a> by the nonpartisan Working Poor Families Project found that nearly 39 million Americans, including 20 million children, are members of &#147;low-income working families,&#148; and that one in every five U.S. jobs pays less than a poverty-level wage for a family of four.";

ElectionIssues_BlackVoters[i++] = new Array("","Employment","","","","", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "");
ElectionIssues_BlackVoters[i-1].body = "A September report by the National Urban League found that despite some meager gains, black Americans are unemployed at twice the rate of white Americans.";

ElectionIssues_BlackVoters[i++] = new Array("","Health insurance","","","","", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "");
ElectionIssues_BlackVoters[i-1].body = "The percentage of the U.S. population without health insurance, much of it African American, increased from 14.2 percent in 2000 to 15.6 percent in 2003.";

ElectionIssues_BlackVoters[i++] = new Array("","Pollution","","","","", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "");
ElectionIssues_BlackVoters[i-1].body = "The Congressional Black Caucus said in a July report that 70 percent of black Americans live in counties violating federal air pollution standards.";

ElectionIssues_BlackVoters[i++] = new Array("","Wealth","","","","", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "");
ElectionIssues_BlackVoters[i-1].body = "In a <a href=http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6268929 target=_blank>study</a> issued last week, the Pew Hispanic Center found that the net worth for white households increased 17 percent between 1996 and 2002, and rose for Latino homes by 14 percent. Net worth decreased for black households by 16 percent.";

ElectionIssues_BlackVoters[i++] = new Array("","Education","","","","", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "");
ElectionIssues_BlackVoters[i-1].body = "And in an op-ed piece in USA Today, Secretary of Education Rod Paige contradicted the rosy educational scenario later painted by Vice President Cheney in the Oct. 5 debate, and by President Bush in the Oct. 13 debate. &#147;Today, only one in six African-Americans can read proficiently upon leaving high school. The achievement gap in reading between blacks and whites is staggering,&#148; Paige wrote in the piece, reprinted on his department's own W<a href=http://www.ed.gov/news/opeds/edit/2004/05142004.html target=_blank>eb site.</a>";

	// END editorial data