GOP courts Haitian Americans

[Freddie Stubbs]

BY LESLEY CLARK AND JACQUELINE CHARLES

[e-mail]


Haitian Americans, who have seen their clout rise in the Democratic Party over the past decade, are now being wooed by Republicans, a sign of the community's burgeoning political power.

Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie, accompanied by boxing promoter Don King, on Thursday swooped into North Miami -- the largest city in the country governed by a Haitian American -- to tout President Bush's record and urge Haitian Americans to the polls.

''I do think there is an opportunity here to get a good chunk of the Haitian-American vote,'' Gillespie told The Herald. ``There's a sense that a little healthy competition is good for everybody. To have the Republican nominee and the Democratic nominee vying for the African-American vote, as opposed to one side taking it for granted and the other side not competing vigorously for it, it's good for America.''

GROWING FRUSTRATION

Haitian Americans suggest there is room for the GOP to tap into a growing frustration with the Democratic Party that it doesn't represent all blacks, although blacks are the party's most loyal voting bloc. Black voters nearly put Al Gore in the White House with a record turnout in Florida four years ago. Nationwide, nine of 10 blacks rejected President Bush in 2000.

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