News: Blacks In The GOP

New York City: Steele Works To Change Strategy For Blacks And GOP

The Republican Party has its work cut out when it comes to attracting more black voters. However, the notion that Republicans don't care about blacks is something that a group of mostly black Republicans based in Harlem, New York, is determined to challenge. This group - which launched this week and is now known as the Community Coalition - strongly believes that if it can make the epicenter of black culture more receptive to Republican principles, it can do the same in minority communities in the rest of New York City, statewide and eventually around the country. This week, RNC Chairman Michael Steele, alongside prominent Harlem and New York City Republicans, set out the vision for how the Community Coalition will go about doing this. The moderate-conservative Republican politico emphasized the importance of networking and relationship building, telling the audience that they must be more actively involved in the black community.

One of the ways in which the committee intends to do this is by promoting Republican values such as discipline, responsibility and individualism, which Mr. Steele says is about giving people the change they want, rather than "the change [the government thinks they] need." The other key aspect is the small business development and creation, particularly as a solution to growing levels of black unemployment.

California: GOP Candidate Damon Dunn Only Voted Once

Damon Dunn, who declared his bid yesterday to become California's next secretary of state, seems to have the goods to be a campaign contender: He's African American, a former NFL receiver with powerful Republican friends - including Condoleezza Rice - and he's hired a top team of campaign strategists. But the 33-year-old Republican has a problem: Mr. Dunn, who has never run for public office and aims to become the state's chief elections official, said he voted for the first - and only - time in his life in May 2009. His limited voting record puts him in the same exclusive club as two other rich, first-time Republican candidates in California - Meg Whitman, the former eBay CEO who is running for governor, and U.S. Senate candidate and former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina, each of whom has faced questions about her spotty voting patterns.

"There's no excuse, no justification," Mr. Dunn said. The self-described multimillionaire real estate developer from Orange County said he grew up in dire poverty in a rural Texas trailer park, the son of a 16-year-old single mother - and "no one in my family voted." "I was not involved in the process," he said. "I have seen how my errors have cost me."

Mr. Dunn has a lot to learn about the secretary of state's office and some of the key issues there. He is unfamiliar with the controversy over "black-box voting" - the use of electronic voting machines that critics claimed were not secure and reliable. And he had not heard of "motor voter," the law signed by President Bill Clinton and assailed by some Republicans, that requires states to provide voter registration during driver's license renewals or applications at the department of motor vehicles. Mr. Dunn said he supports the idea.