Both President Obama and Mitt Romney, his Republican challenger, have rejected an invitation from the NAACP and other Black groups, to participate in a forum to discuss issues important to African-Americans.

In late September, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People invited President Barack Obama and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney to articulate their plans for the Black community at a presidential forum planned for October 9 at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania, the nation’s oldest Black degree-granting institution.

The NAACP collaborated with the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA), MSNBC-TV, the Grio, and American Urban Radio Network in preparation for the forum. Veteran, award-winning journalist Lester Holt had agreed to moderate.

Jerry Lopes, president of American Urban Radio Network, said on Monday that both candidates had declined to appear, citing scheduling conflicts.

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This year, CNN chief political correspondent and host of “State of the Union” Candy Crowley will become the first woman in two decades to moderate a presidential debate. Crowley has big shoes to fill. Simpson also holds the record for the highest number of viewers for a presidential debate at 69.9 million.

Although the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, a nonprofit organization that advocates for public policy reform to improve communities of color, applauded the CPD for selecting Crowley to moderate one of the presidential debates, they questioned the commissions rationale for denying Univision’s request for a fourth debate in a letter written to Janet Brown, executive director for the Commission on Presidential Debates.

The commission argued that the general election debate focuses on “issues of national interest that affect all citizens, including Univision’s audience.”

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