Sobering -- And Unspoken News -- About The Republican Convention: "There's A Fine Line Between Conservatism And Racism."

Black delegates are rare at GOP convention

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- A droll billboard greets delegates to the 2008 Republican National Convention: "Welcome rich white oligarchs."
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The sign is the work of Comedy Central's "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" and clearly plays on a stereotype. But there's an element of truth.

This year, far fewer blacks are participating in the Republican National Convention than in 2004, in part because Democrat Barack Obama -- the first African-American presidential nominee -- is attracting their support, according to an analysis by a Washington, D.C.-based policy center.

Of the Republicans' 2,380 delegates, only 36 are black, a 78 percent drop from the GOP's 2004 convention and the lowest number in 40 years, according to the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies.

Kentucky and Indiana have no black delegates or alternates at this convention. Four years ago, Kentucky had two black delegates and Indiana three.

Black leaders in Kentucky and Indiana -- and even some white officials -- said that's a problem for Republican presidential nominee John McCain, and a long-term issue for the party.

"When you march into St. Paul without one African-American delegate, then you are saying: 'We don't have anything to offer African Americans,' " said Al Brown, who in 1992 was the first black chairman of the Jefferson County (Ky.) Republican Party. "So consequently they are pushing African Americans away from the party."

In a report released Friday, the center -- a research and public policy group focusing on issues of importance to blacks -- found that the lack of participation in the convention is a sign of larger problems for McCain.

The report said McCain "is very likely to receive a historically low share of the black vote -- lower even than the last Arizona presidential nominee, Sen. Barry Goldwater, who received only 6 percent of the black vote against Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964."

The report didn't blame McCain, who it said has largely been a "stranger" to black voters.

"Rather, his lack of support will be a reflection of Sen. Obama's historic candidacy, the deep and genuine enthusiasm for him in the black community, and Sen. McCain's association with President Bush, an exceptionally unpopular figure among African Americans," it said.
Party outreach

Indiana Republican Chairman Murray Clark said the state's lack of black delegates doesn't reflect the party's efforts or its membership locally. The party has an outreach program for Hoosier African Americans, and officials tried to recruit some to be convention delegates this year, he said.

"But, in all candor," Clark said, "Minneapolis wasn't considered an exciting place for people to attend a national convention. We had a much more difficult time getting at-large delegates. It's not for lack of trying or reaching out."

Gov. Mitch Daniels and Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard, both Republicans, have helped with the local efforts, trying to reach the African-American community through programming and hiring, he said.

"We see African Americans, people of color, with whom we deal with and communicate and who volunteer," Clark said. "And they may be hugely for Mitch Daniels. But they're much more equivocating on the presidential race, which is easy to understand."

Joe Slash, a black Republican and president of the Indianapolis Urban League, complimented Ballard's effort and said he considers Daniels a friend who has had "a very strong representation of African Americans in his administration."

But he said Indiana Republicans "need to ask themselves why -- why is there no representation in the official (convention) delegation? It hints there are some problems."

Slash, who served as a senior adviser to former Indianapolis Mayor William Hudnut, a Republican, said he couldn't attend this year's convention because it conflicts with Urban League duties. But he said he's also starting to lean more toward independents.

"I think the party has gone too far to the right," he said. "There's a fine line between conservatism and racism."

Daniels said he's disappointed in the lack of diversity in the convention and believes his party can do better by focusing on issues important to all voters, as well as those specific to blacks.

"African Americans are much more independent-minded than some folks give them credit for," he said.
Luck of the draw

In Kentucky, Republican Chairman Steve Robertson said the party doesn't recruit delegates -- people interested in going to the convention sign up to run for a spot.

"It's always the luck of the draw who we get," Robertson said. "It's a process that starts from the outside and comes to us."

That's different, he said, than the procedure used by the Democrats, who "go out and establish quotas." Nearly a quarter of the delegates at this year's Democratic convention were black.

"We're not trying to go out there and create an image," Robertson said. "We're more interested in the issues and what our candidates believe in."

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said the absence of blacks in the state delegation was "certainly disappointing."

"It's been a challenge because there are not many African-American registered Republicans," he said. "It's certainly nothing I'm happy about, but we have an extraordinarily small pool of African-American Republicans from which to draw."

Encouraging blacks to run for GOP delegate positions has been a continuing challenge, McConnell said.

"It would obviously be a bigger problem in a year like this," he said, referring to Obama's historic run as the first black to head a major party ticket.

Despite having what he called "extraordinary African-American leaders" like Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, former Secretary of State Colin Powell and Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, the GOP overall has had a difficult time appealing to black voters, McConnell said.

"The good news is we do much better with Hispanic voters and Asian-American voters," he said.
A generation lost

Twenty-two other states have no black delegates or alternates, according to the Joint Center report. Only three states have more black delegates than in 2004.

Also, there is only one African American -- former Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele -- with what the center considers a "prime" speaking role, and only one black on the convention's powerful credentials committee.

Republican National Committee Chairman Mike Duncan of Kentucky called minority recruitment "an ongoing issue."

"Back in the late '60s and early '70s, there were a significant number of party stalwarts who were African Americans," he said. "But we have lost a generation, and we're having to build that back. That's going to happen on a one-day-at-a-time basis."

However, Duncan said the party has a number of "standout" black leaders.

He pointed to Shannon Reeves, the RNC's director of state and local development, and Michael Williams, chairman of the Texas Railroad Commission.

"We have to build on that base," Duncan said.

Reporter James R. Carroll can be reached at (202) 906-8141. Reporter Lesley Stedman Weidenbener can be reached at (317) 444-2780.
Editor's comment: This is very sobering news, but not surprising in the very least. Blacks continue to find that the party that was founded because of them -- and for them -- is increasingly abandoning them.

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Then read more about "Sea of white faces at Republican convention".

What a SHAME!