A White Convention

It had already caught my attention in the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, where Republicans convened. The audience was noticeably whiter than the one at the Democratic Convention last week in Denver. On my way to Wasilla, I came across the numbers in the New York Times. And they do not lie. Not only was the Republican Convention indeed much whiter than the Democrats’ was, but also when compared against previous Republican gatherings, the attendees have become considerably “one-sided.”

A couple of numbers: 93 percent of the Republican delegation is white. This was 85 percent in 2004 and 89 percent in 2000. This year, among Republicans, five percent were Hispanic and three percent black. By comparison, with the Democrats, this year, 65 percent were white, 23 percent black and 11 percent Hispanic. About the same as in previous conventions, because Democrats have rules for this. Read the complete statistics “here.“ (New York Times Political Memo, “Two Conventions With No Shortage of contrasts,” September 3, 2008)