CLEVELAND -- Paul Walker came in for a haircut this week at All The King's Men Christian Barbershop and got a question as well.

"Are you registered to vote?" barber Adolpho Clemons wanted to know.

Walker, 20, who grew up near the barbershop in the Glenview neighborhood of eastern Cleveland, replied that he registered in March and "definitely" will vote this fall for Democrat Barack Obama.

"If Obama wasn't running, I wouldn't have even registered," Walker said. "It wouldn't have mattered."

All The King's Men is among 600 barbershops and beauty shops in predominantly black neighborhoods throughout Ohio recruited by the Obama campaign to help register voters and get them to vote.

Shop owner Joseph Green even is knocking a few dollars off his $12 haircuts if his clients agree to register to vote.

With polls indicating at least 90 percent of blacks supporting Obama -- a Dispatch Poll in August showed nearly 95 percent -- the Illinois senator's campaign is pursuing an unprecedented effort to register and mobilize black voters.

That push is evident in Cleveland and the 20-county northeastern Ohio region, which has 45 percent of all black residents in the state, census estimates show. Cuyahoga County alone accounts for nearly 30 percent of the state's black population.

The Democrat-dominated region gave John Kerry more than 45 percent of his entire statewide vote total in 2004, when President Bush rolled up large margins in rural Ohio and other parts of the state to win re-election.

An analysis of the Ohio vote and exit polls shows that if 95 percent of black voters who cast ballots in 2004 support Obama in November, he will win Ohio without a single additional vote above what Kerry received with 86 percent black support.

But some Obama supporters say a larger black vote will be needed this year just to offset votes Obama won't get from some traditional Democratic voters because of race.

Kathleen Buzek, 50, a Republican from Akron who is going door to door for Obama, says she sees some homes with yard signs for local Democratic candidates -- but no Obama sign.

This year's election compares to the 1960 presidential race, said Alexander P. Lamis, editor of the book Ohio Politics and an associate history professor at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland.

He says that just as John F. Kennedy mobilized Catholics to overcome votes lost from those unwilling to elect the nation's first Catholic president, Obama needs to mobilize blacks, "racially liberal whites," young people and other sympathetic voters to overcome those unwilling to vote for a black man.

But in John McCain's campaign office in Canton, some of his supporters said race has nothing to do with it for them.

David Westrich, 41, of Canton, worked for Sen. Hillary Clinton's campaign in Ohio and said he's never voted for a Republican for president. But he's making calls for McCain because he thinks Obama is too liberal and inexperienced.

"As a Democrat, I cannot connect with Obama," said Westrich, a former heavy-equipment operator who is pursuing a political-science degree. "I feel my party has gone to left field and left me behind."

McCain has made numerous campaign stops this year in northeastern Ohio, including three in the heavily Democratic Youngstown area in an effort to appeal to so-called "Reagan Democrats," who tend to be more conservative.

Jon Seaton, McCain's regional campaign manager, said McCain is making a strong appeal with his maverick record and bipartisan message to blacks, Democrats and independents who typically don't support Republicans.

But the Rev. Marvin McMickle, pastor of Antioch Baptist Church in Cleveland, argued that if Obama doesn't do well among white Democrats, it largely will be because of race and not policy positions.

"That's going to be a real test for this country," McMickle said.

Such comments rankle Republicans and others who complain that the suggestion is that anyone who votes for McCain is a racist. Some say privately that they think it is racist for blacks to vote for Obama simply because he is black.

Jay Williams, who became Youngstown's first black mayor when he was elected in 2005, argued that voters have cast ballots for decades based on a candidate's ethnic background, and that blacks voting for a black candidate is no different.

"I don't want individuals voting for me because I'm an African-American, but I know some did," said Williams, 37. "I'm not going to turn those votes away."

Back in Akron, Rita Rogers, a volunteer neighborhood team leader for the Obama campaign, said Obama doesn't emphasize race and the campaign doesn't, either.

But she said it's undeniable that many blacks, especially those who have been victims of racism or have relatives who were, want to support Obama because he is black.

It's even a problem right now for Rogers, 55, an elementary school teacher, whose top priority is getting voters to cast absentee ballots in case there are long lines at the polls or other problems on Election Day.

She said many black voters, especially older residents, say they want to go to the polls proudly on Election Day and, as one man told her, "vote for a black man in front of everybody."

"It's going to be a tough sell for some people," Rogers said. "They say, 'I want to be a part of history.' I tell them I'll take them to the polls on that day for a picture if they want, but don't wait."

mniquette@dispatch.com