"About one in three U.S. residents is a minority," said Census Bureau Director Louis Kincannon. "To put this into perspective, there are more minorities in this country today than there were people in the United States in 1910. In fact, the minority population in the U.S. is larger than the total population of all but 11 countries."

I suppose those Republican front runners may be counting on people like me just not making it to the polls in November 2008.

The two debates hosted by Tavis have been groundbreaking for America's tan, black and brown.

The goal of these debates is to encourage people of color to pay attention to the elections, and, conversely, for candidates to pay attention to people of color.

"You can't make 90 minutes in the entire primary campaign to talk to voters of color?" asked Tavis Smiley, the debate's moderator and PBS commentator. "I mean, I don't think that we're being unreasonable here."

This first event in June was attended by all eight of the Democratic presidential candidates. It was held on June 28, 2007 at Howard University in Washington, DC.

All the candidates that were invited (all Democratic) showed up. They were: Sen. Joseph Biden, Sen. Hillary Clinton, Sen. Christopher Dodd, former Sen. John Edwards, former Sen. Mike Gravel, Rep. Dennis Kucinich, Sen. Barack Obama and Gov. Bill Richardson. Journalists Michel Martin of NPR, nationally syndicated columnist Ruben Navarrette, Jr. and USA Today and Gannett News Service columnist DeWayne Wickham joined Tavis in posing questions to the candidates at that earlier debate.

Questions to the Republican candidates that did show up last week were posed by Tavis and journalists Ray Suarez of The NewsHour, columnist Cynthia Tucker of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and NPR correspondent Juan Williams. Hundreds of people - black, white and every shade in between - filled the front of the modern auditorium and its balconies. The forum host, Tom Joyner, a syndicated radio show host, lightened the mood with a little humor about the no-show candidates -- most of the top GOP contenders.

"And let me take a moment right here and now to say hello to those of you viewing from home. Mayor Rudy Giuliani. Senator John McCain. Governor Mitt Romney. And Senator Fred Thompson. Well, you know, I had to call them out." Capital News Service

The four leading Republican presidential campaigns seem to be scrambling now to explain why this missed the big debate in Baltimore.

"The reality is we turned down numerous debates, and there are debates that we just can't do," frontrunner Rudolph Giulani said Friday.

John McCain used his track record as his defense. "I would hope that most Americans would judge me on my long record," he said...

Fred Thompson agreed to attend at first, then backed out because the other three weren't coming. (ABC News)

The All-American Presidential Forums on PBS mark the first time that a panel exclusively comprised of journalists of color has been represented in primetime.

Former House Speaker and Republican Newt Gingrich of Georgia noted that the debate invitations were extended in March, and called the schedule-conflict excuses "baloney." Gingrich said, "I'm puzzled by their decision. I can't speak for them. I think it's a mistake."

In a previous post of mine here, I talked about the Covenant with Black America. It is a national plan of action to address the primary concerns of African Americans today.

The Covenant is based on the belief that as we move toward the national elections of 2008, black Americans are entitled to have their questions answered. They are entitled to have their visions shared and voiced to potential leaders. They have a right and responsibility to find out where elected leaders and candidates want to take our country in the years to come. Black Americans and Americans of color have a right to expect government to respond.

Especially now that people of color make up 33% of the population of America.

But the decision to skip the Univision and Morgan State debates, combined with the lingering legacy of Katrina and the still-raging immigration debate, creates a perception problem for Republicans that could be difficult to overcome. (CBS News)

Sometimes I think that the Republicans believe that if they diss people of color - that they will gain a greater percentage of thankful bubba votes. You know what I mean? If the presidential candidates show that they don't care for my support and they make it obvious - there just may be a large voting block in America that will demonstrate gratitude to them by getting out and voting.

Oh, if it's truly their strategy, we need to wake up because we've got work to do.

We've got to realize that racism is alive and well in our nation.

We've got to energize the minority voters of America.

It also raises some interesting questions. Who is a minority, after all? What will "minority" mean in a future America increasingly populated by individuals like the young man who described himself as "an Amer-Asian kid who celebrates Hanukkah with his Jewish stepfather, prays to Buddha with his Buddhist Momma, and then goes to midnight Mass with his Christian father and waits for Santa Claus to come down the chimney?"

Even as Hispanics, Blacks, Asians and American Indian/Alaska natives account for over four-fifths of recent U.S. population growth, the influence that these and other American cultures have on one another continues to develop, in a process as old as the nation itself. (U.S. Dept. of State website)

The Washington Post reported in May 2006 that nearly half of the nation's children under 5 are racial or ethnic minorities.

If sheer numbers alone count, consider these statistics: In the 2000 presidential election, the Census Bureau said nearly 13 million African-Americans voted - 84.2 percent of the 15.3 million who were registered, and 56.8 percent of all African-Americans who were both citizens and old enough to vote.

Who voted in the last presidential election? How significant are factors of gender, age or race?

72% is the percentage of all races of citizens age 55 and older who voted in the 2004 presidential election. This compares with 47 percent among 18- to 24-year-olds. 65% is the percentage of women who voted in the 2004 presidential election, compared with 62 percent of men. Also, more women are registered than men so this is 65% of registered female voters.

Take a look at the racial factor. In the 2004 presidential election, turnout rates for citizens were 67 percent for non-Hispanic whites, 60 percent for blacks, 44 percent for Asians and 47 percent for Hispanics (of any race).

Let's see, if about 50% of about 33% of registered voters are people of color that are likely to vote in 2008, then, hhhmmm, it sounds to me like the race is definitely a factor, second only to age with the over 55 crowd being the most likely to vote - although less likely than racial minorities to value the same issues somewhat homogeneously.

The minority vote was slightly down in 2006, but, that wasn't a presidential year. Most numbers show that while minorities don't tend to vote in midterm elections, their turnout increases in presidential races.

What will we do in 2008?

Have we had enough of Katrina, Iraq and McCain yet?

"I guarantee you African-American turnout, if I'm the nominee, goes up 30 percent around the country, minimum," Barack Obama said. "Young people's percentage of the vote goes up 25-30 percent. So we're in a position to put states in play that haven't been in play since LBJ."

I don't know if Barack is the right man (or woman) for the job. I don't know if he'll get the nomination. (I don't even know if I would want him to.)

But, Barack's right in thinking that there are minority voters that aren't yet voting that need to vote. We need more participation.

We need some sort of widespread agreement among us. One that says that disrespect for minorities by one of the two major political parties in America is just no longer acceptable. That we ain't gonna put up with it either.

We'll show our lack of acceptance of that impolite Republican behavior by getting ourselves, our neighbors and everybody we know to the polls next November. Can we?

Voting will strengthen our democracy like nothing else can or ever has.