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Posted on 07/13/2003 3:13:03 PM PDT by Paul Atreides
The NAACP's top leadership lashed out Saturday at several of the major Democratic candidates for president, calling their intention to skip Monday's candidate forum an ''affront'' to the nation's oldest civil rights organization.
As many as four of the nine candidates have refused to participate in the forum, expressing reluctance to appear on stage with their rivals in a debate format, NAACP officials said.
As of late Saturday, Sens. John Edwards of North Carolina and Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut and Reps. Richard Gephardt of Missouri and Dennis Kucinich of Ohio were not expected to attend. Sen. Bob Graham of Florida was scheduled to attend, along with former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, former Illinois Sen. Carol Moseley Braun and the Rev. Al Sharpton. Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry plans to go to the convention, but his campaign is pressing for a change in the debate format.
The actions drew outrage Saturday from NAACP President Kweisi Mfume and Chairman Julian Bond, who told The Herald that any candidate who skipped the forum would lose credibility with black voters.
''If you can't come to the nation's oldest and largest civil rights organization's national conference to lay out what you believe in and the direction you think our country should go in, you certainly have no legitimacy going into black communities asking for votes,'' said Mfume, as he prepared to welcome delegates to the NAACP's annual conference. ``If you can't do a forum where you're simply asked a question and asked to respond, the question is can you really lead?''
He pointed to an elderly woman in a wheelchair and said, ``It's an affront to people like her, who came to this convention to see the presidential candidates.''
The tension comes as the candidates vie for black votes that have become increasingly important in the Democratic primary season.
After the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary, the candidates will compete just days later in South Carolina, where it is estimated that more than half of the Democratic primary electorate will be African-American.
Additional southern primaries come soon thereafter, in Virginia, Tennessee and possibly Alabama -- all states where the black vote is considered decisive in Democratic primaries.
The NAACP is credited with registering 2 million new voters in 2000 and almost putting Al Gore in the White House. It plans to play a vigorous role again in 2004.
Mfume's sharp language Saturday was supported by Bond, who said in an interview that those who did not attend the forum would send a clear message.
''Those who do come demonstrate as much by their presence as by their words that they're interested in what this audience has to say,'' Bond said. ``Their absence says the contrary.''
Mfume saved his strongest criticism for Edwards, who credits black voters with handing him his 1998 victory over an incumbent Republican. The Edwards campaign asked the NAACP in May to rearrange its convention schedule to accommodate the senator.
''I'm particularly perplexed by his actions,'' Mfume said. ``We dropped everything for him.''
Edwards spokeswoman Jennifer Palmieri acknowledged asking for a changed date but said the second date also was inconvenient.
Palmieri said late Saturday that the campaign was still trying to figure out a way for Edwards to attend. If that didn't work out, she said, ``We will turn our schedule upside down to find a time when we can come to Miami.''
Spokesmen for Gephardt and Lieberman said last week that their candidates had scheduling conflicts. Kucinich had initially planned to attend but told NAACP officials that he wanted to be in Washington for a vote instead.
The flap between the Democratic candidates and the leaders of one of the party's most important interest groups underscored a brewing conflict within the campaigns on the need to court critical black votes but avoid potentially risky events where the candidates cannot control the circumstances.
At other forums, including last month's Rainbow/PUSH Coalition event hosted by the Rev. Jesse Jackson, the major candidates have been largely overshadowed by the more animated Sharpton. Or, as in South Carolina in May, the event was dominated by snippy exchanges between Dean and Kerry.
The candidates recently signed an agreement with the Democratic National Committee establishing six officially sanctioned joint appearances before the primary elections begin in January.
Campaign officials argue that the agreement limits them to the six joint appearances.
According to NAACP officials, at least two campaigns -- Kerry and Edwards -- were involved in intense negotiations with the organization late Saturday, urging it to prevent a format in which the candidates appeared together.
Kerry's deputy campaign manager, Marcus Jadotte, said late Saturday that the senator was planning to attend the convention to meet with delegates, but that ``based on an agreement we have with the party and several of the other campaigns, we are working with the NAACP on a format for the public event that will allow Sen. Kerry to take part.''
But it was unclear Saturday that the agreement actually meant the candidates could not agree to more debates. A spokesman for the DNC, Tony Welch, said that candidates were free to schedule as many additional joint appearances as they desired.
Mfume suggested a different theory for the candidates' reluctance: a fear of matching wits with Sharpton or Dean, whose lively style and support for positions backed by the NAACP are likely to win enthusiastic applause.
''If you're afraid to appear against Al Sharpton, then maybe you need to be running for another office,'' he said.
Herald staff writer Sonji Jacobs contributed to this report.
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I thought that was the NRA.
Aha!! the Dimoratz show their true colors!! (pun very much intended)
So9
Not hardly. Regardless of who wins the Democrat nomination, the majority of blacks will vote for that person even if they were snubbed by that person.
This voting base has been taken for granted for the last several decades and they still continue to vote Democrat. This will continue until they wake up.
You mean the rats have been USING the black community for their own political gain?
Perish the thought<<sarcasm
LOL !! There is a joke here but I just don't know where to start.
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