There's a long-scheduled Republican debate Thursday night on issues of concern to minority voters, and five GOP candidates are taking a pass. The four leading contenders -- Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney, Fred Thompson and John McCain -- all pleaded schedule conflicts. Tom Tancredo dropped out several days ago. The 9 p.m. ET debate is at Morgan State University in Baltimore and will be shown on PBS, empty lecterns and all. The moderator is Tavis Smiley, he is not happy and he can be expected to probe "whither the GOP" with those who show up.
We kicked off that discussion with this story. For more, see our earlier posts here and here, and USA TODAY columnist DeWayne Wickham on the GOP's big tent shrinking to a "pup tent."
Who will be there? Mike Huckabee, Sam Brownback, Duncan Hunter, Ron Paul and ... Alan Keyes, a recent entry you may recall from races past.
So where will the rest of the pack be?
- Giuliani is in California. As we noted earlier, former governor Pete Wilson is expected to endorse him at an event in Santa Monica. Giuliani also meets voters in Santa Barbara and attends a fundraiser at the Antelope Valley Fairgrounds in Lancaster.
- Thompson is in Tennessee. He raises money in Clarksville, Murfreesboro and Franklin.
- McCain is in New York to raise money and give a speech on Iraq to the Hudson Institute.
- Romney raises money in Sacramento and Rancho Santa Fe, Calif. He also meets with voters at an IHOP in Sacramento.
On the Democratic side:
- John Edwards visits an 8th grade class in Hanover then at noon becomes the first candidate to participate in an interactive "Presidential Candidate Dialogue" sponsored by MySpace and MTV. The event will be webcast live on both MySpaceTV and http://MTV.com. It will be broadcast later in the day on MTV and mtvU, MTV57;s 24-hour college network.
Edwards also kicks off an economic fairness tour of New Hampshire with a concert and press conference in Durham, followed by a concert and town hall in Conway.
- Barack Obama is in New York. He appears live on ABC's The View and holds a big rally in Washington Square Park.
- Hillary Clinton raises money in Rhode Island and Maryland.
- Bill Richardson raises money in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania.
Poster Comment:
I wonder who'll win ;)