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Minorities concerned about domestic agenda

By KATHY A. GAMBRELL, UPI White House Correspondent

WASHINGTON, Oct. 31 (UPI) -- Blacks and Hispanics in the United States are extremely concerned that President George W. Bush appears to have paid little attention to the domestic agenda, but it is not likely not to cost Republican candidates votes at the polls, according to national civil rights groups.

"There are still concerns whether the issues of the African-American community are going to be addressed, specifically the funding of social programs," NAACP Legislative Director Hillary Shelton. "I think everyone in the final assessment was very happy to receive a (tax) rebate from the federal government and a reduction in taxes, but now we are into deficit spending. We are also looking at a $9 billion-a-month bill for a potential war effort in the Middle East."

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Midterm congressional, gubernatorial and state races draw to close in less than a week with blacks and Hispanics dismayed over what they consider Bush's inattention to the ailing economy and lack of jobs. They say there is increasing disenchantment with his promises for an inclusive government.

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Republicans continue to count on the Hispanic vote and Democrats look to blacks to push their candidates into office. Nationally, Hispanics hold more than 5,600 elected offices, with 1,521 of them Democrats and 116 Republicans, 15 Independents, and 1,118 uncommitted -- many of whom are nonpartisan school board members, according to the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials.

In Congress there are 19 Hispanics in the U.S. House of Representatives, of which 16 are Democrats and three are Republican. The state legislatures have a total of 200 Hispanic lawmakers, of which 170 are Democrats and 30 are Republican. There are no Hispanic governors.

Black lawmakers total 39 in Congress of which 38 are Democrats and one is Republican, according to the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies. There are 585 total in the state legislatures of which 571 are Democrats, seven are Republican and seven have no party affiliation.

Raul Yzaguirre, president of the National Council of La Raza, told United Press International that Bush's retreat on immigration issues has concerned the Hispanic leadership as well as other domestic items such as unemployment that have become "backburner" issues. The bill Bush signed Tuesday is aimed at streamlining elections in the wake of the turbulent 2000 presidential election contest.

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Yzaguirre called the current election season "strange" but said his organization saw a net gain in the number of Hispanic candidates for congressional seats grow from six to 12.

"We're excited about the increase," Yzaguirre said.

National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials issued a projection Thursday that the number of Latino state senators would grow from 54 to 60, an 11 percent jump, and that the number of Latinos in lower state house seats would increase from 149 to 163, a 9 percent hike.

The outcome of several key races could increase the number of minorities in national and state offices. Michael Steele is on the ballot as a Republican candidate for lieutenant governor in Maryland. Democrat Ron Kirk, the former mayor of Dallas, is running to replace longtime Sen. Phil Gramm, who is retiring. Yzaguirre said his organization was closely watching the gubernatorial races in New Mexico between former Clinton energy chief Bill Richardson and Republican John Sanchez; and in Texas, between Democrat Tony Sanchez and Republican incumbent Rick Perry.

Both Hispanic and black leaders were furious with the Help America Vote Act of 2002 which revamped the U.S. voting system. Under the new law, states will receive nearly $4 million in federal dollars over three years to replace antiquated voting machines and improve training for poll workers. Its protections against voting mistakes are set to be in place by the 2004 presidential election.

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What has Hispanic groups riled are the provisions that states maintain computerized voter registration lists that are linked to driver's license databases. It also requires first-time voters to provide identification at the polls. Shelton said the new requirements would be intimidating for both blacks and Hispanics.

Bush drew 8 percent of the black vote in the 2000 presidential elections, far less than the first terms of his predecessor Bill Clinton in 1994 and his father George H.W. Bush in 1990. Black leaders have smarted over what they perceived as the administration's snubbing their invitations for dialogue on the issues in favor of aggressive overtures towards the Hispanic community.

Bush as invited Hispanic leaders to the White House at least seven times since March while the administration has held two events featuring blacks -- one with the family of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., and a second with a cadre of black musicians.

Shelton said the Bush administration has resisted the invitations of the NAACP, the nation's oldest and largest civil rights organization, to speak at its past two conventions citing "scheduling" problems and has not bothered to sit down for talks with its president, former Rep. Kweisi Mfume.

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"He had no problem coming when he was running for office, but for some reason now that he's in office and has power, he doesn't have time for the NAACP," Shelton said.

Still, the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies released its 2002 National Opinion Survey that showed that Bush's ratings among blacks increased significantly since 2000. Bush was rated favorably by 50.8 percent of blacks surveyed with 38.6 rating him unfavorably. At the same time, it reported that 59.2 percent rated his job performance as fair or poor and 38.5 percent gave him excellent or good marks, the Joint Center reported.

One reason for that favorable rating for Bush among blacks could be the aggressive push by the GOP to dispel the conventional thinking that only Democrats bothered to woo African-Americans.

"It's good to see the Republican Party courting African-Americans in the same way Democrats courted African-Americans. There used to be a saying that the Republican Party is ignoring the African-Americans, and the Democratic Party is taking them for granted. I think it's good to see the parties actively engaged and courting a very important constituency in this country," Shelton said.

William E. Spriggs, director of the National Urban League's Institute of Opportunity and Equality, said the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks boosted Bush's job ratings across the board, but that he was unsure if that would translate to votes for Republican candidates at the polls.

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Spriggs criticized Bush's speech on Monday touted by the White House as a domestic policy address.

"His domestic policy speech the other day wasn't 'unemployment insurance is going to run out in December. Why doesn't Congress do something?' His domestic policy speech was 'You all have agreed to more (judicial) nominees than you did when Bill Clinton was here and the tables were reversed, but I am still not pleased, and the nominees being held up are people who have extreme racial views," Spriggs said. "That is not a good domestic policy speech to give."

Shelton told United Press International that the need remains for research into the racial disparities in disease, attention to the shortage of affordable housing, prevention of racial profiling and $112 billion for public school construction.

"The list is long. The problem still remains. I think many African-Americans are thinking back on Dr. King even in 1968 when after passing some very productive and constructive civil rights legislation," Shelton said. "Dr. King became very frustrated because these very important programs to reduce poverty and address racial disparities in our country were being ignored because there was no money. All the money was going to other efforts including a war effort in Vietnam."

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