Few black delegates attend Republican convention

By JON TEVLIN -
Star Tribune (Minneapolis)
At the Republican National Convention in 2004, the party touted its record number of black delegates - 167 or almost 7 percent of the total.

This year?

"We don't know the numbers," said Gina Countryman, communications director of the Republican Party of Minnesota. "They don't check boxes that say race or religion."

The numbers appear to be down dramatically, though. One nonpartisan group, the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, counted 36 black delegates this year, which would be 1.5 percent of the GOP delegates.

David Bositis, who oversaw the study, said the party was "not very cooperative," in helping with numbers, so they may be slightly off. But 36 would be the fewest black delegates at a GOP convention since 1964.
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