I think the point is being a little bit lost here...which is that blacks vote alike to an extreme degree that is weird given how it's a racial group, not bound together by beliefs or socio-economic position. But yes, Southern whites are almost as bad, even though that isn't really much of an excuse for blacks outside of the South.
I think part of the explanatino is that blacks, being a long-persecuted group, still has a group mentality where they want to band together against percieved enemies, preferably behind a leader of some sort. This leads to bloc voting for the "black" candidate, "black" here meaning whatever candidate is said by the leaders of the black community to be favourable to their community (or perhaps, gasp, themselves). This is perfectly understandable but I doubt it is a very fruitful or constructive approach for the black community in the long term.
Thank you Gustaf (the normal voice of reason here), you're the first one to finally give me an answer that's somewhere close.
Wow I actually agree with States, although it was phrased by Gustaf. It should be noted though, that blacks overwhelmingly supported the white over the black in 2006's Senatorial and Gubernatorial races in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland or the racially tinted 2008 Cohen-Tinker primary; and blacks' support of Obama is little greater than Catholics' support of Smith in '28 or Kennedy in '60. Ironically, if Obama wins, it will cause blacks to vote less monolithically next time.
