Poor Republicans Are Invisible to GOP Presidential ContendersWhen the U.S. Census Bureau reported last week that a record number of people are living in poverty, Republicans were quick to attach the figures to President Barack Obama in a desperate attempt to lay the numbers at his feet. Anyone with common sense knows, however, that someone doesn't just fall into poverty overnight. The genesis of today's poverty statistics lies in this country's deplorable economic conditions, which have only gotten worse since the recession began in 2007. But the opposition often ignores such facts. When you start digging deeper into the Census Bureau report, what stands out is that of the 10 poorest states in the country, most are the reddest in the nation — solidly GOP states. The most impoverished state is Mississippi, followed by Arkansas, Tennessee, West Virginia, Louisiana, Montana, South Carolina, Kentucky, Alabama and North Carolina. President Barack Obama won North Carolina by only 14,000 votes in 2008, and although West Virginia is considered a Democratic state, it normally goes for the GOP in presidential elections. There's no doubt that in the 2012 presidential campaign, the GOP expects to lock up all 10 of the states. Thus, it would make sense that the GOP candidates would at least spend some time in the presidential debates addressing the issue of poverty in these red states — and what they plan to do about it. Yeah right. In the CNN debate on June 13 at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, N.H., the word "poor" was not once uttered, and the only time poverty came up was when Rick Santorum discussed his work for welfare reform. At the Sept. 17 debate at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley, Calif., Rep. Ron Paul raised the issue of the poor, and that was in a discussion about getting rid of the minimum wage — he thinks it will lead to more jobs — and about his opposition to welfare. In answering a question from one of the moderators, Santorum again talked about his work on issues facing the poor, all under the guise of welfare reform, during his 12 years in the U.S.
During the CNN-Tea Party debate, Mitt Romney managed to mention the poor once, but that was only when it came to America being an "energy-poor" country. Republicans are quick to say that their economic agenda is the best way to get people back to work and that a job is the best way to get people out of poverty. But it's also true that the poverty issue extends beyond a job, to education and healthcare. Voters in these traditionally red states should demand that the GOP candidates who are banking on their votes say and do more than what they're offering at present. Scarcely mentioning the poor or poverty is insufficient. Maybe part of the problem is that the poor don't have lobbyists. There aren't any Super PACs being formed to raise millions of dollars to demand accountability on the issue. Even right-wing Christian leaders such as Ralph Reed and his Faith and Freedom Coalition are quick to condemn President Obama's plan to tax the rich, but they'll say nothing about the poorest states in the country, and they won't demand a poverty plan from GOP candidates. If I were a poor person in a red state, my primary issue would be figuring out which candidate, Obama included, speaks to my needs. If I saw a candidate spending all his time defending tax cuts for the wealthy while staying mum on the poor and the growing number of children on the poverty rolls, that candidate would be hard-pressed to get my vote. Roland S. Martin is an award-winning CNN analyst and author of the book "The First: President Barack Obama's Road to the White House as Originally Reported by Roland S. Martin." Please visit his website at RolandSMartin.com. To find out more about Roland S. Martin and read his past columns, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com. COPYRIGHT 2011 CREATORS.COM
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