NEW YORK – Being black doesn’t necessarily mean White House hopeful Sen. Barack Obama has a lock on black voters.

In wooing a faithful Democratic constituency, Obama faces two-term New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, the party front-runner who enjoys strong support in the black community. She is also married to former President Clinton, so wildly popular among black voters that novelist Toni Morrison dubbed him “the first black president” in an essay written in 1998.

Obama also must contend with John Edwards, the 2004 vice presidential nominee who has won praise from black leaders for his commitment to fighting and for trying to end poverty. It was Edwards who recently addressed a high-profile New York commemoration of Martin Luther King Jr. – at the invitation of the slain civil rights leader’s son.

“It will be a challenge because (Obama) will be competing against people who have relationships in the black community,” said the Rev. Jesse Jackson, who ran for the Democratic presidential nomination twice in the 1980s.

Jackson, who won 13 primaries and caucuses in 1988, said he is leaning toward supporting Obama’s candidacy but hasn’t made an endorsement. His son, Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. of Illinois, is backing Obama.

For all his promise, Obama is a relatively new face on the national political scene and remains unknown to many voters, including blacks.

An Associated Press-Ipsos poll last October found Sen. Clinton with the support of 25 percent of black voters compared with 10 percent for Obama. Former President Clinton, who is barred by term limits from running again, had garnered 5 percent of black support.

Black voters will be crucial in some of the early party primaries such as South Carolina on Jan. 29 and Alabama on Feb. 5. In 2004, blacks made up nearly 50 percent of the Democratic primary vote in South Carolina; in Alabama, it was closer to 55 percent.

Obama also may not be the only black candidate in the field. Civil rights activist Al Sharpton, who ran for president in 2004, says he is considering another bid, in part out of his frustration that no candidate is directly addressing urban issues.

Sharpton was in Washington on Thursday to meet with several candidates, including Clinton, Obama, Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd and Delaware Sen. Joe Biden, to question them on their views before deciding whether or not to enter the field.

David Bositis of the Joint Center for Political Studies said Obama needs to avoid the candidate mold of a Jackson or Sharpton, whose appeal did not extended much beyond a core black audience.

“A black candidate who’s mainly advocating for civil rights these days is not going to go anywhere in a presidential election,” Bositis said. “I think he (Obama) will get substantial support from blacks, but not all blacks. Some black voters are going to find him – what? Too white.”

Obama was asked recently whether he might be “too white” to appeal to black voters.

“If you look at my black vote in my U.S. Senate race or my approval ratings back in Illinois, I feel pretty confident that once folks know who I am, then we will do just fine,” he said.