At the Harlem Blues barbershop on Erdman Avenue, talk turned yesterday morning from the usual hot topic - women - to one the men there never imagined they'd be discussing: the stunning success of a black presidential candidate.
"I couldn't believe he won Iowa," said Hilbert M. Hebron Jr., as he swiveled in the barber chair to face his audience of five waiting customers. "They're saying if he won in Iowa, he might have a chance to win it all. Can you believe that?"
The men in the shop rarely agree on much. But they were all surprised yesterday at the resounding win by Illinois Sen. Barack Obama. Not only had Obama won the first major challenge for Democratic presidential hopefuls, the Iowa caucuses, defeating New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, but he had won in a state that is just 2 percent black.
Obama's victory, prevailing across racial and economic lines, has raised hopes among many blacks that an African-American candidate can capture the Democratic Party nomination - and perhaps the White House.
"I didn't think he had a chance to win it," said Alan Bosworth, 19, a political science student at Frostburg State University, catching a haircut at the Northeast Baltimore barbershop while on winter break. "Especially in Iowa. When you look at it, it's mostly white. You don't see any black people.
"Racism still exists, but you look at that and see things are changing. That's a good thing."
A spokesman for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People - which is nonpartisan and does not endorse candidates - said it was too early to say if Obama's win in Iowa will lead to the nomination.
"Obviously he's generated much support and generated a lot of excitement," said Richard J. McIntire, national spokesman for the NAACP. "But there's still a long way to go. A lot can happen between now and November."
Clinton has lined up the support of many of Maryland's elected Democrats, including Gov. Martin O'Malley, Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski, and Lt. Gov. Anthony M. Brown, who is black and attended law school with Obama. Brown - who had no comment on the Iowa contest, a spokeswoman said - is scheduled to campaign in New Hampshire on Monday.
But those who have been backing Obama - including Prince George's County Sen. Ulysses Currie, who is black, and Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler, who is white - see an opportunity to make history and bring people together.
