Who Exactly Are the Republican Candidates Willing to Talk To?
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. “Voters d
