Dole Skips Naacp Convention

Bob Dole decided to skip an anticipated appearance today at the NAACP convention, upsetting some group members at the very time that the Republican Party is trying to repair frayed relations with African-American voters.

Dole spokesman Nelson Warfield said the GOP presidential candidate had a scheduling conflict, and the NAACP rejected his offer to have former Housing Secretary Jack Kemp represent him “to talk with members of the NAACP and personally report back to Sen. Dole on their concerns.”

But Dole has no public events scheduled for this morning, when the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People had asked him to appear. He is scheduled to be in Richmond, Va., this afternoon for a speech at the Virginia Police Headquarters and Training Academy and attend a Republican fund-raiser.

In the evening, Dole plans to go to Philadelphia for another fund-raiser and to attend baseball’s All-Star Game.

Word of a Dole no-show left some convention participants complaining that it was a snub against the struggling, but still prominent, civil rights group and a rejection of black voters.

“It’s an affront,” said Rep. Donald Payne, D-N.J., chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus and a convention speaker. “If a person wants to be president of the United States, he has to be the president of all the people.”