ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, July 13, 1996 TAG: 9607150051
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-7 EDITION: METRO
BOB DOLE elaborated Thursday on his turndown of an invitation to speak next week to the annual NAACP convention - and didn't make the decision any less puzzling.
NAACP Chairman Kweisi Mfume, a former Maryland congressman, is "a very liberal Democrat ... trying to set me up," Dole said, and his reception probably would have been cool. The important thing, the Republican presidential nominee-to-be said, is his good record on civil rights. Besides, he said, senior campaign staffers had not passed on the invitation to him.
But whatever Mfume's politics, an invitation to speak is an invitation to speak - in this case, to the nation's oldest and largest civil-rights organization. Why would Dole, especially if he is proud of his own civil-rights record, reject a chance to revive a flagging campaign with a bold step into a spotlight new for him? Why would senior staffers not recognize that an invitation from the NAACP convention merits more attention than one from, say, the Teaneck Garden Club, and ought to be relayed to the candidate?
For years, the GOP has said it wants to woo more black voters. Flaps like this aren't apt to woo very many.
LENGTH: Short : 30 linesby CNB