All? I thought McCain, Romney, Giuliani & Thompson blew it off?

Oops. Thanks, Mike in MO. Fixed that.

Do they care about them?

No.

It's interesting that the "moderate" Republicans all blew it off. I guess the crazy whackjob religious Republicans think they can fool religious African Americans into voting for them.

BRING BACK CONTROL TOWER DAN!!

i wonder which Tavis will show up, awesomely angry tavis or the solid journalist tavis. either would be great especially since he can make the republicans look like crap either way

Tavis Smiley rules. I miss his NPR show.

of course mccain et al. blew it off. why should they bother? black votes are a lost cause, surely their advisors have told them that, and a relatively small percentage of the total electorate. plus tavis would be too tough on them, make them look bad (worse, i should say) to the black voters.

Tavis still has a weekly NPR show...airs Sunday evenings between 7 and 9 on KUOW.

9 - Actually, it's a Public Radio International show. Smiley left NPR, saying it was "In essence, [a] private club for educated white people, and I felt the network had no real interest in reaching beyond its core audience." I noticed that his NPR show had the same ideological "balance" that NPR has, with a heavy dose of conservatives, even though African-Americans are generally more liberal than white America. The buzz was that NPR forced this on Smiley.

I haven't heard his PRI radio show much, but his TV show is quite interesting and not dull mainstream media clone as is a Charlie Rose, for example. It doesn't come across as a PBS clone show.

What I found pathetic is that this is the "first time that a panel comprised of journalists of color is represented in primetime." At this rate, maybe we'll have a representative media by 2100.

oops - not a dull mainstream media clone...

All the headlining Republicans blowing it off is astute short term campaigning, but dumb long term for the Republican party.

(1) Most people assume, probably correctly, that most African-Americans will vote for whoever wins the Democratic primary. This debate will be a largely hostile audience to Republicans. Tavis will likely crucify Republicans, unlike genteel white reporters who are too polite to ask biting racial questions. By going, most Republican candidates will reveal themselves as the passively racist jerks that they are. So I can see the temptation to skip it.

However...
(2) The US is becoming more racially diverse as time goes on. Within a few years, hispanics will outnumber whites in California, for example. So if the Republicans wish to remain a viable party, long term, they are going to have to learn to appeal to some minority voters on some level. If they continue to blow off minority voters in debates like this, they will seal their own eventual demise. Which is perfectly okay with me, by the way.

10 - Most people don't understand there is a difference between NPR and PRI. It's all public radio to the listener.

13 - yeah, I know, but I think PRI has much better journalism and isn't as affected by the Beltway media stupidity. Perhaps KUOW will switch from NPR's Morning Edition to PRI's new morning news show when it starts early in 2008. Of course, there's always Amy Goodman, another type of public radio news host.

12 - good analysis. It reminds me of Bob Herbert's column "The Ugly Side of the G.O.P." earlier this week in the NY Times, which was hard hitting (not in Herbert's usual style).

Herbert's column is at http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/25/opinion/25herbert.html?_r=1&n=Top%2fOpinion%2fEditorials%20and%20Op%2dEd%2fOp%2dEd%2fColumnists&oref=slogin

@10, 13 - most people just don't care. PRI, NPR - whatever, so long as I get it on KUOW, I don't care how it got there.

conservative guests on tavis smiley is far more interesting and fun than tavis getting head from any of his guests he calls brother 30 times in the course of one show.

seriously tavis is at his best when he isnt slapping knees with other black people.

http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/63251/

At this debate, Congressman Ron Paul got an ovation when he noted that African-Americans are disportionately incacerated in the criminal justice system. He also noted - correctly - that the war on drugs is not working, and needs to be ended.

This particular candidate is being ostracized by his own party because he opposed the invasion of Iraq and believes that American troops should be completely pulled out, at the earliest opportunity.

He is a political maverick who ran as the Libertarian party candidate for president in 1988.

Recent studies have shown that the largest group of entrepreneurs is now African-American. There's potential for the Republican party with African-Americans and there should be. Having one party voted in, over and over, does not necessarily mean that the interests of a new African-American middle class will be well served.