His goal, he said, would be to increase the black turnout to between 65 and 75 percent of those blacks registered to vote.

Others, though, said that the influence of outside groups could depress black turnout.

It was impossible to tell if the effort to discourage black turnout had any significant effect on the race.

An enthusiastic black turnout is crucial to Democratic hopes there.

But Democrats call the plan an effort to suppress black turnout.

A drop in black turnout can also hurt the Democrats.

In a real close race, Clinton has to have a big black turnout.

The leaders disagree over the reason for the low black turnout.

But black turnout grew slightly as well, and the vast majority of them voted for the white man.

For years, Democrats have succeeded in raising black turnout, and last year they were more successful than ever.