Ben Carson, the sole GOP candidate to attend a national Latino political convention
At least 13 GOP presidential hopefuls plan to address the socially conservative Faith and Freedom Coalition’s "
Road to the Majority" conference in Washington this week. Yet only one Republican candidate made a point of attending the 32nd annual convention of the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) in Las Vegas. Philip Rucker
reports:
Out of the GOP’s 16 declared or likely presidential candidates, only one — retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson — showed.
The absence of the others — including former Florida governor Jeb Bush, who made outreach to Latino voters a central theme of his Miami campaign launch Monday — illustrates the gulf between the GOP’s urgent need to present a more welcoming face to Hispanics and how far those running to be the party’s standard-bearer are willing to go to do so.
So much for all that Latino outreach prescribed by the GOP "
autopsy." Jeb can speak in Spanish all he wants—his absence along with that of the others at the NALEO conference says everything. GOP conservatives, who have absolutely no interest in passing immigration reform, will drive the Republican agenda no matter who the GOP nominee is.