Plain as Ever, Blacks and Whites at Political Divide -Newhouse A1

Newhouse A1: "WASHINGTON -- On 'Meet the Press' Sunday, Tim Russert confronted Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice with fresh evidence from a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll of President Bush's abysmal standing with black Americans.

'How troubling is that to you, that only 2 percent of African-Americans say that George Bush is doing a good job as president?' Russert asked.

A day earlier, a broad cross-section of black Americans and their political and organizational leadership had gathered on the National Mall, beckoned by Minister Louis Farrakhan who declared that the Bush administration ought to be charged with 'criminal neglect,' at the very least, in the deaths of black victims of Hurricane Katrina."