Black delegates at GOP convention decline 78 percent

Defender:

After seating a record number of African American delegates in 2004, last week’s Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn. had the lowest Black representation in 40 years, according to the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies.

Blacks and the 2008 Republican Convention, a guide released last week by the nonpartisan research institution that focuses on minority issues, said that African Americans will comprise only 1.5 percent of the total number of GOP delegates, substantially below the record setting 6.7 percent in 2004.

The 36 Black delegates in 2008 represent a 78.4 percent decline from the 167 Black delegates at the 2004 GOP convention.

Based on extensive polling and analysis of African American voters nationwide, the Joint Center’s guide, while noting Sen. John McCain’s efforts to reach out to Black organizations such as the NAACP and the National Urban League outlined the difficulties he will have running against the first African American to secure a major party nomination.

“John McCain is very likely to receive a historically low share of the Black vote,” the guide says, adding that this is not attributable to any experiences Sen. McCain has had representing Black constituents, but rather it is “a reflection of Senator Obama’s historic candidacy, the deep and genuine enthusiasm for him in the Black community and Senator McCain’s association with President Bush, an exceptionally unpopular figure among African Americans.”

In the interest of illustrating one reason John McCain may not do well amongst blacks is this vid. Well I see it as somewhat self-serving, but it just shows how significant Obama's campaign is to many blacks. Especially those who are of that Civil Rights generation.