AFL-CIO Blasts Top Republican Candidates Who Skipped Baltimore Debate

by Seth Michaels, Sep 29, 2007

In June, all the Democratic presidential candidates attended the All-American Forum, where they took on tough questions about issues that mattered to people of color—and the nation. When it came time for the Republicans to take on the same challenge, the front runners were nowhere to be found.

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), former Sen. Fred Thompson (R-Tenn.), former Gov. Mitt Romney (R-Mass.), and former Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R-N.Y.) all chose to attend fundraisers rather than show up for the debate, held at Baltimore’s historically black Morgan State University.

AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Arlene Holt Baker had this to say about the top-tier candidates who skipped this and other important events:

The needs of working people and communities of color should be among the top priorities of anyone who claims to be able to lead America today. The middle class is struggling to make ends meet. The cost of health care has spun out of control and out of reach for too many working families. Our immigration system is in crisis – it doesn’t work for anyone. And Hurricane Katrina washed brought the realities of poverty into our living rooms this country – much of it in communities of color – out in the open for all to see.

Working people and people of color deserve to hear how their potential leaders would address these issues and others that touch their lives every day. And they deserve a president who is committed to serving all Americans, not just the corporate elite.

Leading Republican candidates had an opportunity to speak to the nation on issues like health care, jobs, racial justice and voting rights. It’s an opportunity they chose to miss.

Video of the debate is available here. For more information about the presidential candidates and their stances on the most important issues, visit Working Families Vote 2008.

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