Republican National Convention puts a brown face on a white party
Until Ann Romney and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie stepped into the primetime spotlight Tuesday night, the stage at the Republican National Convention was dominated by a parade of racial and ethnic minorities. The same could not be said about the delegates in the hall. As the United States has become an increasingly more diverse country, the Republican Party has maintained a distinctly pale hue.
Still, the party can boast a number of black and Hispanic elected officials -- and a bunch of them were put in front of the TV cameras on the opening night of the Tampa confab. Among the featured speakers were Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval, Sher Valenzuela, the GOP candidate for lieutenant governor of Delaware, Ted Cruz, candidate for the U.S. Senate in Texas, South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and the first lady of Puerto Rico, Lucé Vela Fortuño.
The top prize in the how-many-minorities-can-we-pack-behind-a-microphone sweepstakes goes to whoever booked Artur Davis, the black ex-Democratic congressman who seconded Barack Obamas nomination four years ago. Having switched sides, Davis delivered a stinging rebuke to the president he helped elect.
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http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/topoftheticket/la-na-tt-white-party-20120828,0,7089439.story?track=rss