Republican Candidates Again Reject Minority Audience

September 28, 2007 -- Once again, top tier Republican candidates will miss a critical opportunity to talk to African American voters by skipping out on today's "All American Presidential" debate hosted by PBS at the Historically Black Morgan State University. Today's no shows add to a series of snu by Republicans who have refused to talk to audiences they may not agree with on every issue. Just last month, a forum for Republican candidates on issues important to Hispanic voters and organized by Spanish language television network Univision was canceled when all but one Republican candidate refused to participate. [ABC News, 9/9/07]

Even members of their own Party have criticized the GOP candidates for ignoring minority audiences. J.C. Watts, a former GOP leader in the House, called their decision "stupid" and former Republican Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich called the so-called 'scheduling conflicts' "baloney" and called the no-shows "fundamentally wrong." [ABC News, 9/25/07] Former Congressman and GOP Vice Presidential candidate Jack Kemp addressing the snubs asked, "What are we going to do -- meet in a country club in the suburbs one day?" [Washington Post, 9/19/07]

Throughout the year, Republican presidential candidates have cited 'scheduling conflicts' to avoid standing before the National Urban League's Annual Conference in St. Louis and to avoid the National Council of La Raza's Annual Conference in Miami Beach. In recent months, the GOP candidates ignored major organizations that represent important communities, including America's teachers, young people, African Americans and Hispanics. [St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 7/25/07; AFP, 7/23/07; BET.com, 7/26/07; Bloomberg, 7/26/07]

Almost every Republican running for President has ducked major conferences of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the National Association of Latino Elected Officials (NALEO), the National Education Association (NEA), the National Council of La Raza (NCLR), and even the Young Republicans National Convention and the College Republican Convention. In each of these cases, just one or two of the 10 Republican candidates 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 accepted invitations to address the NAACP convention, seven addressed the NALEO convention, seven addressed the NEA, three addressed the College Democrats of America, four addressed the National Urban League, seven participated in a Univision forum, four participated in the LOGO debate on gay issues and seven participated in a similar "All American Presidential" forum aired on PBS and hosted by Tavis Smiley recently. Adding insult to injury, Republican Presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani will accept the endorsement of former California Governor Pete Wilson, a failed Republican Presidential candidate known for divisive tactics that alienated Hispanic voters, while avoiding today's forum. [AP, 9/26/07; Dallas Morning News, 9/24/07]

"For the last several years, Republicans boasted of expanded outreach to minorities, claiming to renounce the Southern strategy which included racially divisive campaign tactics," said Democratic National Committee spokeswoman Amaya Smith. "Now when it's time to show up, Republicans are missing in action at presidential debate after presidential debate focused on issues important to minority communities. Actions speak louder than words. Our next President will need to work to unite Americans of all backgrounds and Republicans continue to show that they are just not up to the task. In stark contrast, the Democratic field is the most diverse in history and each and every candidate is reaching out to all Americans."
Republicans Just Say No...
To Hispanics, African Americans, Teachers and Young People

Top Tier Candidates Snub Debate At HBCU. All four GOP presidential front-runners -- former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson -- have said they will not attend a PBS debate at a historically black college in Baltimore hosted by Tavis Smiley. [ABC News, 9/25/07]

Republicans Rejected Univision Forum for Hispanic Audience. "The first-ever Spanish-language presidential debate on the Univision network is just one of many ways Democratic candidates are reaching out to Latinos - from radio ads in Spanish to bilingual Web sites...Significantly, the Republican Univision forum was cancelled after every candidate except John McCain cited scheduling conflicts." [ABC News, 9/9/07]

Only One Republican Candidate Addressed NAACP. Though all Republican candidates were invited months in advance to the NAACP annual convention this year, only Tom Tancredo accepted. Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney, John McCain and Mike Huckabee all cited scheduling conflicts. Giuliani spent the day in the same state and Romney had no public events scheduled that day. By contrast, all eight Democratic presidential candidates 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 Addressed College Republicans. The College Republicans held their 57th Biennial National Convention at the Sheraton in Arlington, VA. Brownback is the only candidate that appeared. [crnc.org]

Only Two Republican Candidates Addressed Young Republicans National Convention. Of the declared GOP Presidential contenders, only 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]

Top Republicans Skip NCLR and National Urban League Conferences, Cite "Scheduling Conflicts". According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, excluding Huckabee and Hunter, all the "other Republicans have said they couldn't come because of scheduling conflicts" to the National Urban League Conference. [St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 7/25/07] "Republican presidential hopefuls Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney and John McCain turned down invitations," to the NCLR's annual conference earlier in the week, also "citing scheduling conflicts. Organizers say that was a major miscalculation, particularly since the Republicans also stayed away from other important Latino conferences in recent weeks."

Source: DNC