WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – A judge has reduced the prison sentence of former Rep. Michael Decker, who is serving time for accepting a bribe that prosecutors said was payment for helping former House Speaker Jim Black.

The Winston-Salem Journal reported Monday that U.S. District Court Judge James C. Dever III signed an order reducing Decker’s sentence from four years to three years. Dever cited the Walkertown lawmaker’s help in the federal prosecution and conviction of Black.

“But for Decker’s cooperation, it is doubtful that Black ever would have admitted his own extensive and pervasive criminal conduct,” Dever wrote in his order. “Indeed, but for Decker’s cooperation, Black might still be in office.”

Decker pleaded guilty on Aug. 1, 2007, to a single, complex charge involving conspiracy to commit extortion, mail fraud and money laundering. His plea involved taking $50,000 in campaign contributions to switch parties – from Republican to Democrat – allowing Black to stay in power.

Before he was sentenced in April 2007, federal prosecutors asked that Decker’s sentence be cut from four years to two years because of his help in making the case against Black. In Friday’s order, Dever acknowledged that Decker cooperated but said he could not “ignore the serious nature of Decker’s crime” and cut his sentence to three years but not two.

Defense attorney David Freedman said the resolution of Black’s case in state court recently may have influenced Dever.

“I’m assuming the judge said, ‘Black’s case is finally finished. Decker doesn’t need to provide any more information,”‘ he said.

In addition, Decker’s supervised released term was reduced from two years to one year. A $50,000 fine remains in place.

Decker, who is being held at a low-security prison near the South Carolina-Georgia border, admitted that in late 2002 and early 2003 he asked Black for $50,000 to support Black’s bid to remain co-speaker of the house.

Black has maintained that the money was not part of any political favor or deal. But he agreed to a plea bargain that sent him to prison in July 2007 for 63 months. He’s now in a prison in Jessup, Ga.

Black also was sentenced to 11 to 14 months on state bribery charges earlier this month. The sentence will be served concurrently with Black’s federal sentence.

BY MICHAEL PAUL WILLIAMS
Times-Dispatch Staff Writer

Johnnie Taylor shook her head, raised her arms and mouthed a silent prayer as the band struck up “Hail to the Chief” for President Barack Obama.

Taylor, 60, recalled her youth as a civil-rights activist who was yanked from a lunch-counter stool during a Woolworth’s sit in. The conflict resolution trainer at the Richmond Peace Education Center sees Obama’s presidency as the product of divine intervention.

“When things like this happen, it’s not by accident. It’s not by history. It’s an ordained event,” she said. “I know man had to vote, but God made this happen.”

Kayla Hill-Jones was born a half-century after Taylor, but bore a psychic load no less onerous. For the Glen Allen Elementary School fourth-grader, yesterday meant this: “That I can accomplish anything, even though I’m black.”

Taylor and Kayla were among three dozen people who watched Obama’s inauguration at Highland Park’s Fire House 15 as they washed down chili, cornbread, tossed salad and brownies with sweet iced tea. The fire station-turned-eatery is run by Boaz & Ruth, a nonprofit that seeks to transform Highland Park, serve as a community bridge and rebuild the lives of formerly incarcerated men and women.

As I listened to a 10-year-old child describe her brave new world, it brought to mind the old one of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Upon telling his young daughter that the Atlanta amusement park Funtown was closed to black children, he could see “ominous clouds of inferiority beginning to form in her little mental sky.”

Those clouds have hovered over the collective mental sky of African-Americans throughout the nation’s history.

Yesterday, the skies cleared.

The forecast for America is another matter. The nation’s helm has been handed to an African-American during one of the most turbulent times in our nation’s history.

Adria Scharf, director of the Richmond Peace Education Center, described yesterday as “disorienting,” and indeed, there was a magical aura that bordered on surreal. You might say the country has found its bearings after straying wildly off course from the grand ideals charted in its founding.

The journey toward that ideal is far from complete. But perhaps for the first time, many of us understand how King felt in the famous speech that foreshadowed his death. Like him, we don’t know what will happen now. There are difficult days ahead. But that doesn’t matter as much anymore. We’ve been to the mountaintop.

“I’m 50,” said Ruth Cosby, a Boaz & Ruth graduate who supervises its furniture store at Third and Main streets. “I thought I would never see this. I just couldn’t stop crying. I think this is going to unite us as a country, and we’re going to realize Dr. King’s dream.”

If that’s the case, it’s children such as Kayla who stand to inherit a nobler nation.

Kayla’s parents, Stan Jones and Regina Hill, are supporters of Boaz & Ruth. “We wanted her to experience giving instead of receiving — of serving others,” her mother said of Kayla.

Kayla wore a red and blue T-shirt that featured a portrait of the new first family inside the presidential seal.

“She said she wanted to be the first African-American president,” her mother said, chuckling. “I told her she could be the first woman.”

DURHAM, N.C. – Next Monday marks 88 years for Martha Grady Dalton. At a unity breakfast Wednesday morning, the soft-spoken woman wearing a purple hat explained how she was born in a house on the same Durham corner she lives on now.

“I said early on to my oldest cousin…I wish I could learn to see the turn of the century,” Dalton said. “I saw the turn of the century. I had no idea I would live to see an occasion like this.”

For the last two days, she’s stayed up way past her bedtime. She refused to miss a minute of the presidential race. On Tuesday, she accidently dozed off before11:00, but woke up in time to see the news: Barack Obama was president-elect.

“It is truly a historical moment,” she said.

And so more than a dozen black community leaders and residents came together in downtown Durham Wednesday morning to pray for the president-elect.

“There’s been an important milestone in Americans’ history,” Reverend Melvin Whitley said in an opening prayer.

For many here, the fact Americans put the first African American into the White House is that milestone they thought they’d never get to see in their lifetimes.

“I’ve been through the ’60s…marches…being sprayed by insecticide,” Dalton said. “It’s something we should all be pleased with, proud of, blessed for and thankful to God.”

More than 102,000 people voted for Barack Obama in Durham. That’s about 76 percent of the vote. Compare that to 72 percent of the vote in Orange County and 57 in Wake County.

“I was not surprised,” said Becky Heron, a county commissioner who attended the unity breakfast Wednesday morning.

Heron moved to Durham County with her husband in the ’50s.

“We’ve come a long way. I think we’ve gained more respect for each other,” she said. “I see our board as a board not looking at what color you are or what education you have…but what your needs are.”

The Durham Voter Coalition organized Wednesday’s event at the North Carolina Mutual Life. The non-profit worked with neighborhood organizations to increase voter registration and turnout. Melvin Whitley said they did not endorse a candidate.

“This morning is a prayer breakfast for our nation,” he said. “When you go back and look at our history, you find that this country became great by using the skills and talent of our diverse nature.”

“No president becomes great by themselves.”

WASHINGTON – Break out the popcorn. As the election results roll in tonight, we’re in for a captivating show on television. Here are five things to watch for as John McCain and Barack Obama duke it out for the 270 electoral votes needed to win the White House.

Key Early States – Virtually all the battleground states this year were in the Republican column in 2004, underscoring McCain’s challenge. Virginia, where polls close at 7 p.m., will offer an early sign of the direction of the race, followed by Ohio and North Carolina at 7:30 p.m.

If McCain loses any of those states, which went for Bush in 2004, he will have a hard time winning.

At 8 p.m., polls close in Pennsylvania, the one blue state from 2004 both candidates hit Monday, the final, full day of campaigning. Though polls give Obama a significant advantage here, McCain is hoping to pull off an upset. If he doesn’t, it will signal real problems for McCain.

Other early, too-close-to-call states closing at 8 p.m. include Florida, the pivotal state from 2000 election, and Missouri, which has chosen the winner in every presidential race since 1956.

Long lines – An early indication of how long it will take to declare a winner tonight will be today’s lines at polling places.

Some watchdog groups warn that states aren’t prepared to handle a crush of new voters. The states say they are, but that voters can expect long lines as polls close.

Long lines could delay final tallies, particularly if turnout is high in Western battleground states like Colorado and New Mexico, where polls close at 9 p.m. and Nevada, where polls close at 10 p.m. (Times are Eastern.)

Black turnout – Pay close attention to turnout of African-American voters in key Southern states. A bigger-than-expected tide – sparked by Obama’s candidacy – could add electoral votes from Georgia, North Carolina and other states with large black populations to the Democrat’s tally. A smaller-than-expected turnout could keep those states in the Republican camp, as in 2004.

Beyond the presidential race, GOP operatives worry that a strong showing among black voters – who trend overwhelmingly Democratic – will swing down-ticket Senate and House races in the South, helping Democrats expand their majority in Congress.

Polls – National polls and surveys in key battleground states suggest Obama will win, likely by a big electoral vote margin. We’ll know tonight whether the pollsters deserve praise for their soothsaying skills or egg on their faces.

2008 has proved tougher than usual for pollsters. The expanded pool of voters, the wild card of Obama’s race and problems reaching younger voters on cell phones have made it difficult to determine exactly who will turn out and how they’ll vote.

Margin of victory – We should know the results by Wednesday morning. Whoever wins, conventional wisdom holds that a big victory equals a big mandate, making it easier to get things done.

While that’s not always the case, the new president’s effectiveness will be influenced by the results of congressional races throughout the country. Democrats are expected to pick up seats in both the House and the Senate. The question is how many.

Obama may find it easier to push his agenda through an expanded Democratic Congress, while McCain would likely be forced to make more concessions.

CHARLOTTE, N.C.  – Blacks are already surging to the polls in parts of the South, according to initial figures from states that encourage early voting – a striking though still preliminary sign of how strongly they will turn out nationwide for Barack Obama in his campaign to become the first African-American president.

There have been predictions all year of a record black turnout for Obama. The first actual figures suggest that wasn’t just talk:
      – In North Carolina, blacks make up 31 percent of early voters so far, even though they’re just 21 percent of the population and made up only 19 percent of state’s overall 2004 vote.
      – Roughly 36 percent of the early voters are black in Georgia, outpacing their 30 percent proportion of the state’s population and their 25 percent share of the 2004 vote.

No one but the voters can be sure how they voted. And John McCain’s campaign officials note that the Obama camp has put much more effort than they have into early voting. But the numbers are still notable.

Democrats are outvoting the GOP by a margin of 2.5-to-1 in North Carolina, where early voting has been under way for a week. That’s roughly double the margin from 2004.

More than 210,000 blacks who are registered as Democrats have cast early ballots in the Tar Heel State – compared with roughly 174,000 registered Republicans overall. Four years ago, the number of GOP early and absentee voters was more than double that of black Democrats.

“It’s a sign about how energized African-Americans are about this election,” says David Bositis, who tracks black voting trends at the Washington-based Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies.

In Louisiana, more than 31 percent of the early voters are black, and Democrats are topping Republicans nearly 2-to-1. In the crucial battleground state of Florida, nearly 55 percent of early voters are registered Democrats – well above their 41 percent share of the electorate in the Sunshine State.

Virginia, another Southern state that usually votes Republican – but where Obama is doing well in opinion polls – does not track voter registrations by race or party. But some of the largest increases in registrations this year were in Democratic-leaning cities with large minority populations.
 
Absentee voting – as the name suggests – was originally designed for people who couldn’t make it to the polls on Election Day. But this year, more than 30 states allow any registered voter to cast an early ballot, and many election officials are encouraging voters to do so to ease the strain on Nov. 4. About a third of voters nationwide are expected to cast their ballots before Election Day

Obama’s campaign has focused heavily on turning out those voters, using advertising and campaign events. That’s the message the Illinois senator brought to North Carolina during his last stop, when he addressed a predominantly black crowd in Fayetteville.

“We want to get as many votes in as possible as early as possible,” he said.
 
Louise Boyd, a 61-year-old Charlotte retiree, voted early this year and then returned to wait in line two days later with her sister, Nyata Frazier. Boyd, who is black, said she expected a very large turnout from watching rallies and noting the historic nature of voting for a black presidential candidate.

“I had a little more pride,” she said. “It shows how vastly the U.S. has changed.”

The surge in black voters follows a similar trend this year in voter registration. In the five states that track voter registration by race, blacks signed up to vote at twice the rate of whites in the six months through September.

The question then was would those newly registered voters turn out to vote, and now there are signs that they will. In Georgia, 230,000 more people have cast early ballots than voted absentee in 2004.

Many of those early voters have come from metro Atlanta counties, including heavily Democratic Fulton and DeKalb.

In Marietta, just north of Atlanta, poll workers were warning arriving voters of waits up to four hours on Thursday. Many were not deterred.

“Take off work, get in line and just expect a long wait,” said Kristy White, 30. “Bring a book if you have to.”

Georgia election officials expect 1.4 million people to vote early this year – more than double the total from four years ago.

It’s the same in North Carolina, where State Board of Elections Director Gary Bartlett said two months ago he told senior staff members that mail-in and in-person early voting could reach 2 million ballots. Bartlett said his colleagues thought he was a little crazy.

But based on results so far – more than 735,000 people had voted early as of early Thursday – “it looks like that we’re going to be pretty close to that.”

“We’re seeing historic numbers with a historic election year,” Bartlett said. “I’m very proud to be a part of that historical process.”

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 requires several Southern states to report racial breakdowns among voters, an effort designed to prevent discrimination. But North Carolina, Georgia and Louisiana are the only ones reporting that information as early voting is proceeding.

“We believe in transparency,” Bartlett said.

North Carolina has long had more registered Democrats than Republicans but hasn’t voted for a Democratic presidential candidate since 1976. President Bush won the state by 12 percentage points four years ago. Bush beat John Kerry by 17 points in Georgia, a state that last voted Democratic in 1992.

This year’s trends are daunting for McCain, the Republican nominee. Polls out this week favor Obama in both North Carolina and Florida.

Last year, Obama said his place on the Democratic ticket would boost African-American turnout by 30 percent – potentially opening up Southern states that his party hadn’t won in more than a generation. But Obama campaign officials now play down the prospect that his place as the first black to top a major party ticket would sway enough voters to win the presidency.

“I don’t think we should talk only about race. There are so many other factors – age, geography,” said spokeswoman Caroline Adelman. “This campaign’s not about race, it’s about bringing people together.”
   
Republicans also caution it would be a mistake to read too much into the early totals. McCain spokesman Mario Diaz said the GOP will benefit from high turnout on Election Day, and he noted the party has focused less on early voting than Obama.

“We anticipate the support to only intensify by Election Day,” he said.