Democratic No-Shows Draw NAACP’s Wrath

After months of simmering tensions, a rift between black leaders and the Democratic Party erupted publicly Monday when three of the nine candidates for the party’s presidential nomination skipped a forum sponsored by the NAACP.

The head of the civil rights group lambasted the no-shows -- Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut and Reps. Richard A. Gephardt of Missouri and Dennis J. Kucinich of Ohio -- declaring each of them a “persona non grata” in the African American community.

“Your political capital is the equivalent of Confederate dollars,” NAACP President Kweisi Mfume said.

The three candidates cited scheduling conflicts and issued statements expressing their support for the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People and its mission. A spokesman for Lieberman noted that the candidate’s record on civil rights dates “to the 1960s, when he marched with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.” to protest segregation in the South.

While Mfume directed his criticism at the three absentee Democrats, his sentiments reflected a larger sense among some black leaders that the concerns of African Americans -- for decades perhaps the most loyal Democratic constituency -- are being ignored by party leaders.

“There is a perception out there that Democrats are taking African Americans for granted,” Donna Brazile, manager of Al Gore’s 2000 presidential campaign and a veteran organizer in the black community, said Monday.

Gephardt, Lieberman and Kucinich could have helped dispel that notion by attending Monday’s forum, said Brazile, who termed the NAACP the nation’s most active and respected civil rights organization. “They made a huge mistake -- and it will come back to haunt them,” she said.

But the flap over Monday’s forum also underscored a growing frustration among many of the Democratic candidates. They and their strategists have become increasingly weary of the number of interest groups -- each representing a core Democratic constituency -- that are scheduling forums and expecting all of the candidates to appear.

Recent forums have been hosted by abortion-rights activists, environmentalists, labor unions and Latino leaders, among other groups. Several of the candidates are set to appear today before a gay rights organization in Washington.

“You cannot go to all these things,” said Steve Elmendorf, chief of staff for Gephardt’s campaign. “You could do two to three a week, every week, and do nothing else.”

In missing Monday’s forum, Gephardt cited a prior family engagement. Lieberman said he had campaign events in New York. Kucinich said he wanted to be in Washington for votes in the House.

Two other of the party’s White House hopefuls, Sens. John Edwards of North Carolina and John F. Kerry of Massachusetts, hastily showed up at Monday’s event after initially saying they would skip it. They joined four other candidates on stage: former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, Sen. Bob Graham of Florida, former Sen. Carol Moseley Braun of Illinois and the Rev. Al Sharpton of New York.

Also on the stage were four empty chairs, one for each of the absentee Democrats as well as President Bush. Bush also declined an invitation to appear at the forum, which was attended by about 1,500 NAACP members.

For the most part, the Democratic hopefuls focused their attention on Bush. “How does George Bush go to Africa and meet with African leaders, and come home and not meet with African American leaders in his own country?” Sharpton asked to loud applause and laughter.

Among many in the audience, however, it was the absentee Democrats who drew the sharpest wrath. “It’s a slap in the face,” said Philip Conyers, 58, of Warren, Ohio, who chairs a civil rights committee for the United Auto Workers union. “Dennis Kucinich is from Ohio. I’m from Ohio. I was supporting him until this morning.”

The anger expressed at the gathering by Mfume, Conyers and others had been building for some time.

Many black leaders were infuriated by the push to install Terry McAuliffe, a confidant of former President Clinton, as chairman of the Democratic National Committee soon after the disputed 2000 presidential race. Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles) had led an unsuccessful attempt to tab former Atlanta Mayor Maynard Jackson, an African American, as party chief.

Jackson, who died in June, was appointed head of the party’s new Voting Rights Institute, in part to mollify his supporters.

More recently, black Democratic leaders were outraged when the DNC announced plans to lay off 10 staffers this spring, all of them African American. After the criticism, the committee dropped its plans.

As important as it has been to Democrats in the past, the black vote could be even more crucial in 2004.

A state with a large black population, South Carolina, will be among the first to vote in the nominating process, following the opening rounds in Iowa and New Hampshire. By some estimates, anywhere from a third to half of the South Carolina Democratic primary vote will be black.

Moreover, African American support will likely be crucial to whomever the Democrats nominate to face Bush in the fall of 2004. While blacks make up only about 10% of the voting-age population, their numbers are heavily concentrated in several states -- among them Florida, Missouri, Michigan and Louisiana -- that could be decisive in a close contest.

In 2000, Gore won about 90% of the African American vote, the best Democratic showing since President Johnson’s in 1964.