WASHINGTON — A PBS video previewing the network's Republican presidential candidates forum, set to air tonight from a historically black university, asks, "Can the party of Abraham Lincoln win the hearts and minds of all Americans?"
But none of the GOP's top White House contenders will show up to answer the question, each citing a scheduling conflict.
Instead, viewers will see four empty lecterns on the stage as Tavis Smiley, an African American talk show host, poses questions to five lesser-known candidates: Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.), former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Alpine), Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) and Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.).
Coming days after the Spanish-language network Univision was forced to postpone its Republican forum because it was rejected by all but one candidate -- Sen. John McCain of Arizona -- the PBS forum has touched off a debate within the GOP over whether its 2008 candidates are trampling on past efforts to draw more minority voters.
"It's a missed opportunity," said former Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele, who would have been the Senate's only black Republican had he won his election bid last year.
Steele, an organizer of the PBS forum, said he had confronted the campaigns in recent days, to no avail. He said that failing to connect with African American voters could be "lethal" in the general election.
Other Republicans have weighed in as well, including former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and J.C. Watts, a former Oklahoma congressman. Watts, who is black, told ABC's "Good Morning America" this week that the candidates were "stupid" to skip the forum at Morgan State University in Baltimore.
"You kind of scratch your head thinking, 'Why are they making decisions like that?' " Watts said.
Smiley, the event moderator, said he didn't believe the campaigns when they blamed their absences on hectic schedules.
"When you consistently regret invitations to appear in front of black and brown audiences, I tend to think that's a pattern and not a scheduling problem," Smiley said in an interview Wednesday.
Just last year, the GOP backed three black candidates in major statewide races, including in the key battlegrounds of Ohio and Pennsylvania, and party leaders were promising aggressive outreach to black voters as part of a broader strategy to build a long-lasting majority. Many believe that President Bush's courtship of African Americans in certain states ensured his reelection in 2004.
