Here's a good article about conservative Ohio gubernatorial candidate Ken Blackwell's meeting with African-American pastors from Cleveland (a traditionally Democrat group). The part I like about this story is that it happened because the Blackwell campaign requested it:
"The Blackwell campaign called us and asked if they could provide a festive occasion for us to get to know them better," McMickle said. "It was a well-orchestrated event and they paid for the lunch."
The key here is that people like to be asked. Building coalitions doesn't just happen naturally. You've got to work at it. Kudos to the Blackwell campaign for requesting the meeting.
As the title of this article implies, there's something about being in a room together - and respecting each other - that allows us to build "common ground despite differences."
