Pres. Obama's uphill battle to repeat '08 black voter turnout

Can President Barack Obama depend on 2008-level of support from black voters in November? A new report by the National Urban League says black voters could tip the election this year by staying home and costing the president's crucial votes in battleground states.

How concerned should the Obama campaign be?

CNN's John King breaks down the numbers on what states could be affected?

Obama seeks to energize black vote in New Orleans speech

President Barack Obama ends four days of travel Wednesday with a speech to the National Urban League that will seek to energize the African-American base for his re-election bid in November.

A new report by the group's policy institute warns that low turnout by African-American voters, who overwhelmingly supported Obama in 2008, could hurt his chances this time in the battleground states of Virginia, North Carolina and Ohio.

"African-American voters tipped the outcome of the 2008 presidential election in several key states, and are poised to do so again in 2012," said the report titled "The Hidden Swing Voters: Impact of African-Americans in 2012" by Madura Wijewardena and Valerie Wilson.

"How this will manifest will depend on many things, but one important factor will be whether the extraordinary growth in turnout by African-American voters in 2008 will be replicated in 2012," the report continued. "The 2008 voter turnout rate was driven by historic factors that may not necessarily apply in 2012."

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