Black delegates say they find it depressing and evidence of what they call one of their party's biggest shortcomings. Only 36 of the 2,380 delegates seated on the convention floor in St. Paul, Minn., are black.

"It's hard to look around and not get frustrated," Michael Steele, a black Republican and former lieutenant governor of Maryland, told the Washington Post (NYSE:WPO). Steele is the only African-American scheduled to address the convention in prime time.

Republicans spent much of the past decade working to improve their minority outreach, particularly to blacks and Hispanics.

But, several Republicans said some major setbacks, including an anti-GOP national mood, anger over the Hurricane Katrina response and the Democratic nomination of Barack Obama, have hurt their efforts.

Party leaders say they think John McCain can still win with the kind of demographics on display in St. Paul.

In an interview with Washington Post reporters and editors, McCain campaign manager Rick Davis outlined a strategy of targeting women and white working-class voters and essentially ceding the black vote.