AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Arelene Holt-Baker on COP No-Show for Presidential Forum: Republicans Strike Out for Working People and People of Color

For Immediate Release
Contact: Caren Benjamin 202-637-5018

AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Arlene Holt-Baker
on GOP No-Show For Presidential Forum with Tavis Smiley
Republicans strike out for working people and people of color
September 28, 2007

Republican frontrunners for the presidential nomination have made a
habit of ducking debates where they might be asked tough questions by
Hispanics, workers and African Americans. Last night, the four top
contenders were no-shows at a forum moderated by Tavis Smiley and hosted
at Morgan State University, an historically black college, before a
largely African American audience.

This is the third time in recent weeks that most of the Republican
contenders have snubbed constituency groups that don*t match their
party*s base of support.

Earlier this month, Univision cancelled a planned Spanish-language
forum for the GOP presidential candidates because only one of the
leaders accepted the invitation.

No Republican candidates answered the candidate surveys the AFL-CIO
sent out to all candidates, and so were not eligible to attend the
AFL-CIO*s presidential forum in Chicago.

Together, that record amounts to a strikeout for the Republican Party,
whose leading frontrunners appear not to care about the concerns and
needs of working people and communities of color. 

The needs of working people and communities of color should be among
the top priorities of anyone who claims to be able to lead America
today.  The middle class is struggling to make ends meet. The cost of
health care has spun out of control and out of reach for too many
working families. Our immigration system is in crisis * it doesn*t
work for anyone. And Hurricane Katrina washed the realities of poverty
into our living rooms  *  and  out in the open for all to see.

Working people and people of color deserve to hear how their potential
leaders would address these issues and others that touch their lives
every day. And they deserve a president who is committed to serving all
Americans, not just the corporate elite.