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Seven candidates to appear Monday at conference after Bush's address

Friday, July 25, 2003

By Steve Levin, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

Three Democratic presidential candidates who earlier this month spurned a forum at the NAACP national convention will attend a similar event Monday at the National Urban League conference in Pittsburgh, along with four of their rivals.

Sen. Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, and Rep. Dick Gephardt, D-Mo., all plan to be at the 5:15 p.m. forum on Monday. When they missed the NAACP's event in Miami Beach, they were excoriated by the organization's President Kweisi Mfume as "persona non grata."

This time, the only candidates not appearing are Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., and Sen. Bob Graham, D-Fla.

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Spokesmen for Lieberman and Kucinich denied yesterday that their earlier absences dictated their decision to visit Pittsburgh.

A Gephardt spokesman declined comment.

Their appearance at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center, along with Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C., Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, the Rev. Al Sharpton and Ambassador Carol Moseley Braun will follow by less than four hours a visit by the man they hope to defeat come November 2004.

President Bush is expected to arrive at the convention center between 1:15 p.m. and 1:45 p.m. to address the second day of the National Urban League's 93rd annual conference. The candidates forum is scheduled to run from 5:15 p.m. to about 6:30 p.m.

Both the president's appearance and the candidates' event will be open only to registered conference attendees.

Official invitations to the candidates forum were mailed to the nine Democratic aspirants on June 26 in a letter from Marc H. Morial, president and chief executive officer of the National Urban League.

The letter discussed the importance of the candidates explaining their views for the nation at the conference and, in particular, for African Americans. The conference's theme is "The Black Family: Building on Its Resilience."

"Like the rest of the nation, the current international situation; the economic downturn; race relations; health issues; and the state of the education system, particularly the public school system, seriously impact our community," the letter read.

"We also need to hear your plans for rebuilding our cities firsthand."

A Kerry campaign spokesman said the senator had a full day scheduled in Iowa that could not be changed.

A Graham spokesman said he would be in Washington, D.C., all day Monday.

According to Esther Bush, chief executive officer of the Urban League of Pittsburgh, plans for the forum include 10-minute statements by candidates, plus responses to questions from an as-yet-unnamed moderator. No questions will be taken from the audience.

After Lieberman, Gephardt and Kucinich missed the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People forum, Mfume had threatened that if they couldn't find time to attend "then you have no legitimacy over the next nine months in our community."

Two days later, they were shoehorned into the conference's last day, and apologized for their absences.

"There's a key difference between [the] NAACP event and this event," Kucinich campaign spokesman Jeff Cohen responded in an e-mail to questions yesterday. "Congress will not be in session during the Urban League event.

"He was very sorry he couldn't make it to the NAACP candidates' forum ... due to a conflict. But he feels he did the right thing by being in Washington to vote on Medicare."

Jano Cabrera, Lieberman's campaign spokesman, said the senator was "looking forward to speaking to the Urban League."

Although Kerry is not attending, his wife, Teresa Heinz, will host a nonpolitical reception for Urban League officials at some point during the four-day conference.

Jamal Simmons, Graham's press secretary, said the senator "obviously would love to be at the Urban League convention" but cannot. Simmons said the candidate's close ties to the African-American community were clear from his appearance at the NAACP convention.

"Running for president involves tough choices and sometimes you can't make all the things you want to," Simmons said.

A spokesman for Moseley Braun said the conference was "one she was going to go to regardless of what happened" because of her friendships with National Urban League board members.

A Dean spokesman said that even though the forum invitation was sent late, with just a month's notice, "we thought it was an important forum and a great platform for the governor to speak."