Black Illinois delegate sees party on brink of change

SAN DIEGO Marlene White Ahimaz was born a Democrat, but 20 yearsago her 8-year-old son and conservative economist Milton Friedmanhelped her realize she was in the wrong party.

"I was a Republican without knowing it," she said.

The Hyde Park economics consultant jumped in wholeheartedly.She is one of 1,990 alternate delegates to the Republican NationalConvention. But she is in a more select group.

Ahimaz is the only African American in the Illinois delegation.

Only 2.7 percent of the 1,990 voting delegates are black, andonly 2 percent of the alternates are African Americans, reported theJoint Center for Political and Economic Studies. By contrast,roughly 16 percent of the 4,320 voting delegates to the DemocraticNational Convention will be black.

But if the GOP is viewed largely as a white, suburban maleparty, Ahimaz said she believes that will begin to change.

"There is a lot of heart in the party," she said. "It's justthat we don't want to blow the hell out of the deficit and let ourgrandchildren pay for it."

Her switch began in the 1970s. She grew up in Detroit with astaunchly Democratic family and volunteered on campaigns.

It was during graduate studies at the University of Chicago whenshe sat in Friedman's classroom that Ahimaz began to question liberalviews of economics and government.

Professors began to tease her that she was a strictconservative, prompting her 8-year-old son, Frank, to quiz her on herviews.

"He asked me if I thought abortions should be legal, and I said,`Absolutely not,' " she said. "He asked if I was for welfare. And Isaid, `No. I think that's a form of slavery.' "

On the boy went, until finally saying: " `Mommy, why don't yoube true to yourself. . . . You're not a liberal.' He was prettysharp."

Ahimaz thinks former Housing Secretary Jack Kemp and retiredGen. Colin Powell will help bring in African Americans. "I don'tknow which of them I love more," she said.

Don't ask about Powell's stand on abortion.

"I think that issue has been blown way out of proportion," shesaid. "It makes it look like women are only interested in theirwombs. Women are interested in many things - economics, foreignpolicy, crime."