THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, May 5, 1995 TAG: 9505050596
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Short : 46 lines
The Republican Party of Virginia will launch a campaign to attract more black members with a rally this morning, a party official said.
The event at the Arthur Ashe Center in Richmond comes a few months after state GOP chairman Patrick McSweeney caused a stir by saying it would not be cost-effective for Republicans to court the black vote.
``In political circles, they're calling it the `We're Not Writing You Off Rally,' '' University of Virginia political analyst Larry Sabato said.
But Jeff Brown, the state GOP's new director of grass-roots development, denied that the push to recruit blacks is aimed at making amends for McSweeney's statement made during the U.S. Senate campaign last fall.
``Inevitably that's the way people will interpret this,'' Brown said. ``I have to say emphatically, no, that's not the case. I believe the party would be doing this anyway.''
Brown, who is black, said a major part of his job is finding ways to bring more blacks into the party. Although blacks historically have voted Democratic, Brown believes that can be changed.
``Black people are beginning to realize belonging to a single-party monolith doesn't help us,'' he said.
Sabato said, however, that it will take more than rallies to lure blacks into the GOP.
``What really matters is the identity of the candidates the Republican Party nominates,'' he said. ``They can send candygrams to every African-American voter in the state, and it's not going to matter if they don't nominate candidates blacks see as sensitive to their concerns.''
Brown said McSweeney, Attorney General James S. Gilmore III and state Secretary of Health and Human Resources Kay Coles James are among the scheduled speakers for today's rally.
He said the party issued thousands of invitations but will consider the event a success if 200 people show up. ``The impediment is that most everybody works'' at the time the rally is scheduled, Brown said.
KEYWORDS: REPUBLICAN PARTY VIRGINIA by CNB