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St Paul, Minnesota: Michael Steele was once the symbol of the Republican Party's ambitions to expand its reach into black America - a high-ranking African-American elected official who travelled the country telling long-time Democrats why the GOP should be their new home.
But as he stepped onto the stage on Wednesday to deliver a prime-time speech, he was greeted with a disheartening sight: Out of 2,380 Republican delegates in St Paul, only 36 were black, or 1.5 per cent of the total.
That's a jarring decline from four years ago when the GOP, eager to chip away at the Democratic Party's black voter base in the South and big cities, seeded the presidential convention with minorities, including 167 black delegates, according to a report by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies in Washington.
"It's so disappointing, and I'm very frustrated," said Steele, a former Maryland lieutenant governor who now heads a conservative political action committee.
Republican National Committee ssays the party intends to "compete for each vote within the various ethnic communities of our country". But from the perspective of the convention floor, things are not going well.
Thirty-three states - as well as the District of Columbia and the Virgin Islands - have fewer black delegates here this week than in the previous convention in New York, according to the report. And 24 states sent no black delegates - compared to seven in 2004.
By comparison, 24.5 per cent of the delegates - or 1,087 - who attended last week's Democratic National Convention were black, according to officials with the Democratic National Committee. "It's not a good sign for the Republicans," said David Bositis, a senior political analyst and author of the report. The Republican convention has long been a white bastion, although it hasn't been for lack of trying.
At the 1996 San Diego convention, 2.6 per cent of the delegates were black. In 2000, the Republicans tried to reach out to minorities by showcasing blacks, Hispanics and women on stage. That move backfired, with some political commentators joking that there were so many minorities on stage - and so few in the audience - that the convention resembled a pro basketball game. Still, the percentage of black delegates increased to 4.1 per cent. By 2004, the percentage of minority delegates reached 6.7 per cent.
This year, however, the Republicans dream of winning over more black voters has been shattered by Obama's candidacy.
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