From the convention site in immigrant-heavy Florida to the multi-hued faces that will be visible on stage over the next several days, Republicans are clearly courting minority voters — particularly Latinos.

But as the television news cameras broadcast sweeping shots of delegates at the Republican National Convention, something else will be visible too: a sea of red, white and blue apparel — and white faces.

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This year, 46 Republican delegates are African-American, or about 2 percent of the total, according to the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies. That is up from 36 in 2008, which was the lowest number in 40 years, but far less than the 167 black delegates in 2004, which was the highest since 1912, said David Bositis, senior political analyst for the Joint Center.

The Joint Center does not track Latino or other minority delegates, but the Republican convention is likely to have more Hispanic delegates than African Americans, he said.

Bositis found that 26 percent of the 4,000-plus delegates to the 2012 Democratic National Convention are African-American. He estimates that at least 40 percent of the Democratic delegates will be from minority groups.

Bositis said the GOP needs to broaden its appeal to minority voters or face irrelevance in the coming years as America becomes more diverse.

Read more at the Dayton Daily News.

Editor's note: With the 2012 Republican National Convention about to begin in Tampa, CNN asked veteran insiders Donna Brazile, Democratic strategist and former campaign chair for Vice President Al Gore's presidential bid, and Ari Fleischer, Republican communications expert and former press secretary for President George W. Bush, to give us their tips on how to navigate a political convention. Here are Brazile's tips.

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2. Watch the media for reports that track delegate diversity.
The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies has been tracking the ratio of minority delegates at the conventions for 40 years. In 2008, it found that 36 of the 2,380 Republican delegates were African-American. Women delegates were at a 40-year low. Another nearly all-white convention will make it hard for the Republicans to sell themselves as a majority party.

Read more at CNN.

When President Barack Obama arrives in New Orleans on Wednesday to speak before the National Urban League annual conference, he will touch down in a state where his party, less than a month before the qualifying deadline, has yet to find a congressional candidate for any district outside the black-majority seat held by Rep. Cedric Richmond, D-New Orleans.

For Sen. Karen Carter Peterson, D-New Orleans, who seized control of the party from Buddy Leach in April, it is a year for "grassroots rebuilding." But so too was last year, when the party failed to field a single major candidate for any statewide office, including governor.

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"Black voters and elected officials have less influence now than at any time since the civil rights era," David Bositis, an analyst at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies in Washington, wrote in a stark analysis late last year. It is the culmination of nearly a half-century process that began with the dismantling of Jim Crow, the empowerment of black voters and an explosion in black representation, but that now finds its ironic coda in a once-dominating Democrat Party transformed into a largely African-American enterprise that is only occasionally able to scrounge enough white votes to compete effectively outside black districts. The result has been the loss of legislative control in every Southern state save Arkansas.

Read more at the Times-Picayune.

The cliche "every vote counts" is sure to get a workout this election season. A new report from the National Urban League says the African-American vote could play a critical role in November. Host Michel Martin talks with Chanelle Hardy of the National Urban League and David Bositis of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies.

Read more at National Public Radio.

From National Public Radio's Tell Me More. The cliche "every vote counts" is sure to get a workout this election season. A new report from the National Urban League says the African-American vote could play a critical role in November. Host Michel Martin talks with Chanelle Hardy of the National Urban League and David Bositis of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies.

President Obama pleased gays and lesbians when he endorsed same-sex marriage. He thrilled women when he signed the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act.

But when it comes to African Americans, a group that gave Obama 96 percent of its votes, there is disappointment over what many believe is the president's failure to address their concerns.

With black unemployment at 14 percent - nearly double the rate among whites - and a steep rise in rise in poverty and incarceration rates, many blacks are expressing frustration at the president's leadership.

While no one expects African Americans to make an exodus to presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney, there is concern among Democrats over whether Obama will benefit from as large a turnout and the same level of enthusiasm as he enjoyed in 2008.

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David Bositis, who studies African American voting patterns at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, said Obama will need strong black support to keep several states in "the Democratic column."


Read more at the Pasedena Star-News.

President Obama pleased gays and lesbians when he endorsed same-sex marriage. He thrilled women when he signed the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act.

But when it comes to African Americans, a group that gave Obama 96 percent of its votes, there is disappointment over what many believe is the president’s failure to address their concerns.

With black unemployment at 14 percent — nearly double the rate among whites — and a steep rise in rise in poverty and incarceration rates, many blacks are expressing frustration at the president’s leadership.

While no one expects African Americans to make an exodus to presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney, there is concern among Democrats over whether Obama will benefit from as large a turnout and the same level of enthusiasm as he enjoyed in 2008.

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David Bositis, who studies African American voting patterns at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, said Obama will need strong black support to keep several states in “the Democratic column.”


Read more at Silicon Valley Mercury News.

“Swing state” is something North Carolinians have been hearing a lot lately.  There’s no avoiding the importance the campaigns of both President Obama and his presumptive challenger Mitt Romney place on the state and its 15 electoral votes. As tightening polls and numerous candidate visits suggest, predicting the November result is not easy.

But for the president to repeat his surprising 2008 win here – by a slim, just over 14,000-vote margin – he will have to target, expand on and get out his strongest base. That would be minority, particularly African American, voters.

What will it take for the president to make North Carolina swing his way in November? Will the Democrats’ decision to hold their national convention in Charlotte, the state’s largest city, affect enthusiasm and turnout? How much does the president’s 2012 success depend on the rise of North Carolina’s minority population? And will the economy trump everything?

“A lot of politics is demographics these days, more than ever,” said David Bositis, senior research associate at the Washington-based Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies.

Read more at The Grio.

Michael Strautmanis, deputy assistant to President Barack Obama, was ready to go home as was the other dozens of State of the Union watchers packed into the boardroom at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies.

Despite the obvious fatigue of a long day; plus the intensity of watching President Obama’s hour-long State of the Union speech, there was a late-night agenda on the table. Strautmanis and other White House representatives were on assignment. Their mission was to – not only break down the President’s speech – for the Black political, grassroots, business and civic leaders in the room, but to make plain the President’s plan for the Black community in coming months – especially as it pertains to economics.

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Ralph Everett, president/CEO of the Joint Center, a Black think-tank, seated at the right of Strautmanis, moderated the discussion, when continued to close to 11 p.m. Only 40 people had been invited to the meeting, but the center had to open up multiple rooms and even turn some people away after more than 140 responded, he said.

This shows that people want to “participate in the process. This was just one way to do that,” he said. The other way will be to vote in November he said.


Read more at The Seattle Medium, or The Louisiana Weekly.

The Justice Department's rejection of South Carolina's voter ID law probably won't prevent other states from adopting similar measures, analysts say.

"Unfortunately, I don't think this is going to have a significant chilling effect," said Wendy Weiser, a voter ID opponent and lawyer at the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University law school.

The South Carolina law would have required voters to show one of five government-issued IDs — such as a drivers license or passport — before casting a ballot.

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Most states can change their election laws without having to get advance approval from the federal government. And those that do need approval can turn to the courts if the Justice Department says no, noted David Bositis, an analyst with the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies.

He said many states already have passed tougher voter ID laws or other measures — such as shortening early-voting days — that critics say have a discriminatory impact.


Read more at USA Today.