Republican Candidates Snub Black College Debate

Tavis Smiley will host a presidential candidate debate Thursday night on PBS at a historically black college in Baltimore. But a lot of people are asking if you can even call it a debate since the top Republican front runners won't be there.

Rudy Giuliani, Sen. John McCain, Mitt Romney and former Sen. Fred Thompson all say they have other campaign and fundraising obligations that night and won't make it to Morgan State University to debate, despite advice from their Commander in Chief to reach out to African American voters.

Is it a coincidence that ALL of the leading GOP candidates have a scheduling conflict?

Former Oklahoma lawmaker and Republican J.C. Watts doesn't think so. After all, the invitations were sent out in March.

"You kind of scratch your head thinking why are they making decisions like that?" Watts told ABC News Tuesday, calling the decision "stupid."

Maybe those candidates don't have any African-American staffers who could say "You're making a huge mistake strategically by not at least reaching out and talking to this demographic,'" Watts added.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich called the move "baloney" and "fundamentally wrong."

And one of the nation's leading black Republicans, Armstrong Williams, is mad, to say the least.

"That's not leadership. Leadership is the willingness to go into the lion's den and show that you have the courage to stand your ground," he said.

Smiley spoke up about the move on "The Tonight Show" last week asking: "What does it say when you don't think that black issues and brown issues and issues for red and yellow -- what does it say when you don't think that all of us are valuable in this process?"

All of the Democratic candidates will be there in full force at the debate billed as the All American Presidential Forum. Republicans who are not considered front runners will also debate, including Sen. Sam Brownback, Mike Huckabee and Alan Keyes.

Last week, President Bush also gave some unheeded words of wisdom to Republican contenders.

"My advice to whoever will be our nominee is to reach out to the African-American community, as well as other communities, because I believe that we've got a very strong record when it comes to empowerment, when it comes to education, or homeownership, or small business formation."

But that "very strong record" does not explain why African Americans generally support Democratic candidates.

+ Snub of minority forum 'a huge mistake' by GOP (USAToday)

+ The Ugly Side of the G.O.P. (The New York Times)

ALSO

+ Black Voices, Obama Watch