MADELEINE BRAND, host:

This is DAY TO DAY. I'm Madeleine Brand.

ALEX COHEN, host:

And I'm Alex Cohen.

BRAND: Let's say you're a black woman and a Democrat. Who do you vote for - Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama? Do you go with your gender or do you go with your race?

Well, joining us to talk about this are - is Frangela. Frances Callier and Angela Shelton are comedic translators of current events.

Welcome back.

Ms. FRANCES CALLIER (Member, Frangela Duo): Hello.

Ms. ANGELA SHELTON (Member, Frangela Duo): Thank you.

BRAND: And let's just point out, you're both black women.

Ms. CALLIER and Ms. SHELTON: Yes, we are.

BRAND: So what do you think of that question? I mean the question, is it just too simplistic to begin with? Or is it something you wrestle with?

Ms. CALLIER: Oh, I'm so wrestling. I'm torn, I'm torn, I'm torn.

Ms. SHELTON: It's a liberal quagmire.

Ms. CALLIER: It really is.

Ms. SHELTON: It's a quandary.

BRAND: Let's start with you, Frances.

Ms. CALLIER: Yes.

BRAND: Who are you leaning toward?

Ms. CALLIER: I am caught in the middle. I don't know what to do. I mean, I'm excited about Barack. But then, I'm excited about Hillary too. So I don't know what to do. I'm just torn, I'm torn.

BRAND: So you're right down the middle?

Ms. CALLIER: Mm-hmmm.

BRAND: Angela?

Ms. SHELTON: I'm pro-Hillary.

BRAND: Pro-Hillary?

Ms. SHELTON: I am pro-Hillary and this is why it's hard, because Oprah did a fundraiser for Barack.

Ms. CALLIER: I know.

BRAND: Right.

Ms. SHELTON: And you know, we were waiting to hear what Oprah said.

Ms. CALLIER: Yes, we were.

Ms. SHELTON: We were, like, we'll just wait and see what Oprah does.

Ms. CALLIER: Whatever Oprah does.

Ms. SHELTON: Absolutely. But the truth is, you know, I just think that Hillary's - she's incredibly intelligent and she doesn't take any crap. I like that, you know? Did you watch the debates the other night?

Ms. CALLIER: Mm-hmmm.

Ms. SHELTON: She was great.

Ms. CALLIER: But on (unintelligible).

Ms. SHELTON: Deal with it. Bill Richard, who?

(Soundbite of laughter)

Ms. SHELTON: Gravela(ph) who?

BRAND: But what about Barack Obama? He is young, charismatic, attractive, smart.

Ms. SHELTON: Please.

Ms. CALLIER: Yes.

Ms. SHELTON: Clean as what Senator Biden pointed out. Clean.

Ms. CALLIER: And well-spoken, as he said too. Let me tell you. The thing about Barack is, you know, I never would have though in my time - seriously, honestly that this could happen. It could happen?

Ms. SHELTON: It was amazing to look at that stage. My thing is, I wish that he - he's kind of caught in that - he does a lot of I have a dream speeches, you know what I mean?

Ms. CALLIER: Yeah.

Ms. SHELTON: Like he gets asked a question like, earlier this week they were at another, like, debate. And they were asked, what would you do if there was a terrorist attack and you were the president? And Barack went on a very long, you know, I would get all my people together, if you feed the people hope they will be hopeful. And if you feed the people fear, they will be fearful. It's just hope, hope, hope.

You know, he goes on. It was very eloquent and lovely. He went on for five minutes. But you really weren't sure what he said at the end of it. And then they asked Hillary and she went, I would bomb them.

(Soundbite of laughter)

Ms. SHELTON: It was like, okay. Okay. I told you, girl.

Ms. CALLIER: Okay.

Ms. SHELTON: She got brass ones.

Ms. SHELTON: That's what I'm saying.

Ms. CALLIER: She's not playing. (unintelligible)

Ms. SHELTON: I'm not playing with that.

BRAND: So that doesn't scare you at all, that Hillary you think is just more willing to send in troops and bomb a country just to show that she can?

Ms. SHELTON: You know what? I think that she's answering a critique she's going to get, you know...

Ms. CALLIER: Absolutely.

Ms. SHELTON: ...by saying that. Frankly, she's a little more conservative than I'd like. But I don't know that Chaka Khan wants to be president.

BRAND: Right, right, right.

(Soundbite of laughter)

Ms. SHELTON: And I can't force that on her.

Ms. CALLIER: Yeah. Because, you know, and also, you know, how is she going to do policy when she has to sing to me every night?

Ms. SHELTON: Oh, I love it.

Ms. CALLIER: I love it. Wouldn't that be nice? I'd watch the state of the unions.

Ms. CALLIER: Yeah.

Ms. SHELTON: No, but really, and also to be honest, I want Bill back in the White House.

Ms. CALLIER: Yes, I'd have Bill again and again and again and again.

Ms. SHELTON: And that's when I get Hillary, I get Bill.

Ms. CALLIER: You do.

BRAND: So you really, really you're voting for...

Ms. CALLIER: Aren't we all?

BRAND: The first man?

Ms. SHELTON: You know, like 63 percent of that vote is for Bill.

Ms. CALLIER: And we all know it.

BRAND: Now, what about all this talk that we've heard that Barack Obama's not black enough?

Ms. CALLIER: He's blackish.

Ms. SHELTON: He's black-eth. He's black adjacent.

Ms. CALLIER: You know what?

Ms. SHELTON: You know, how black you got to - what we want, 50 Cent as - you know what I'm saying? What we trying to do? That's one of those critiques I never understand because it's a critique that isn't made of white people or Italian people. But for me, being an Afro-Saxon, you know...

Ms. CALLIER: Yeah, we are Afro-Saxon.

Ms. SHELTON: We're Afro-Saxons. We're bushy. (Unintelligible)

Ms. CALLIER: On the back end.

(Soundbite of laughter)

Ms. SHELTON: You know what I mean? Like, you know, Frances has a brand new Jetta.

Ms. CALLIER: Yeah, but it ain't got no insurance, you know what I'm saying?

Ms. SHELTON and Ms. CALLIER: That's Afro-Saxon.

Ms. SHELTON: That's Afro-Saxon. He's an Afro-Saxon, I think.

Ms. CALLIER: Yeah.

Ms. SHELTON: And so in many ways I'm tempted to support him. I do not believe that he's viable. And I think they'll kill him.

BRAND: So for his own good, you're not voting for him?

Ms. SHELTON: For his family's happiness and safety.

BRAND: Okay. So are you convinced, Frances?

Ms. SHELTON: Hmm.

BRAND: Did Angela convince you to go with Hillary?

Ms. CALLIER: No.

Ms. SHELTON: I've been working on it. She has a daughter, she has a baby girl. Can you imagine for the first time in our lives, I never thought it would be possible, you could look a little girl in the eye and not be lying to her when you say you could be president.

And that's what I think is going to happen. What I think is going to happen is all these Republican women who (unintelligible)

Ms. CALLIER: Yeah. Girl, that's true.

Ms. SHELTON: They're talking big game about Hillary. When they get in that booth alone and they look down at her name, they're going to say to themselves, I want my daughter to be president.

Ms. CALLIER: Yup.

Ms. SHELTON: And they're going to vote for her.

Ms. CALLIER: And they're going to be like I don't know how it happened. This is crazy.

BRAND: Frangela. Frances Callier and Angela Shelton, thank you so much.

Ms. SHELTON: Thank you.

Ms. CALLIER: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.