DNC: Who Exactly Are the Republican Candidates Willing to Talk To?

July 12, 2007 -- If recent reports are any indication, the 2008 Republican presidential candidates as a group refuse to talk to America’s teachers, young people, African Americans or Hispanics. In recent weeks, almost every Republican running for President has ducked major conferences of the NAACP, the National Association of Latino Elected Officials (NALEO), the National Education Association (NEA), the Young Republicans National Convention, and even this week’s College Republican Convention. In each of these cases, just one or two of the ten Republican candidates has accepted invitations to address these organizations and their members.

By contrast, not only is the field of Democratic presidential candidates the strongest and most diverse in history, as a group they have accepted the opportunity to address Americans of all backgrounds. All eight Democratic candidates have accepted invitations to address the NAACP convention, seven addressed the NALEO convention, and seven addressed the NEA.

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“Voters deserve real leaders who represent all Americans, not just the people who agree with them,” said Democratic National Committee spokesman Damien LaVera. “After six years of divisiveness, corruption and incompetence from a Republican Administration that chose to divide the country for political gain and ignore large swaths of the electorate, the American people are not looking for more of the same. We need a President who will not only talk to, listen to and represent all Americans, but will work to bring us together. The Republican candidates’ decision to ignore African Americans, Hispanics, teachers and young people just begs the question: exactly who are they willing to talk to?”
They’ll Talk To Anyone...
Just Not Hispanics, African Americans, Teachers or Young People

Only One Republican Candidate to Address NAACP. The NAACP is holding its annual convention Thursday morning in Detroit. Though all Republican candidates were invited over two months ago, only Tancredo might attend. Giuliani, Romney, McCain and Huckabee all cited scheduling conflicts. Giuliani will be in Michigan that day, and Romney has no public events scheduled. All eight Democratic presidential candidates have accepted invitations to speak. [Detroit Free Press, 7/10/07]

Only One Republican Addressed NALEO. “The National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials invited all Republican presidential hopefuls to its annual convention at Disney World at Lake Buena Vista, Fla. Only one showed up — Rep. Duncan Hunter, of California…. On Saturday, seven Democratic presidential candidates were slated to attend a forum at the NALEO conference, including Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, Barack Obama of Illinois, Christopher Dodd of Connecticut, Joseph Biden of Delaware, former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, and Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio.” [Austin American-Statesman blog, 6/29/07]

Only One Republican Candidate Addressed National Education Association. “Arkansas Republican [Mike Huckabee], the only GOP candidate for president who accepted the National Education Association's invitation to speak at its first presidential forum…The other GOP candidates, however, chose not to pitch to the 3.2 million-member NEA -- a foolish snub, union leaders said, given that the group's membership is about one-third Republican.” [Boston Globe, 7/12/07]

Only One Republican Candidate Scheduled to Address College Republicans. The College Republicans will hold their 57th Biennial National Convention at the Sheraton in Arlington, VA this week. Brownback is the only candidate slated to appear. [crnc.org]

Only Two Republican Candidates Addressed Young Republicans National Convention. Of the declared GOP Presidential contenders, just Mitt Romney and Duncan Hunter addressed the 2007 Young Republicans National Convention in South Florida. [Sun-Sentinel, 7/5/07] Rudy Giuliani declined to address the convention despite campaigning throughout Florida the same day. [Campaigns & Elections, 7/3/07]

Source: DNC