BALTIMORE -- Maryland's lieutenant governor said the Republican party has a simple message: "We will not cede the African-American vote to the Democrats."

The Republican party intends to send a message Tuesday with Maryland's Lt. Gov. Michael Steele, U.S. Education Secretary Rod Paige and the Harlem Boys Choir.

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GOP Tries To Woo African-Americans

Is the African-American vote up for grabs?

WBAL-TV 11 News reporter Deborah Weiner asked that question on the Morgan State University campus Monday, its first day of class.

"In 2004, a lot of people are thinking outside the box, they have their own voice," Terence Green, a student, said.

"It was a tradition if you were a Democrat [that] your mother and grandmother were [also Democrats]. Now, we have different points of view, we think for ourselves," Steven Cook, a student, said.

In fact, a recent study by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies found while African-Americans still overwhelmingly identify themselves as Democrats, college-age voters are becoming more independent.

And that's where Steele's convention speech comes in to play.

"I'm not trying to eat the apple all at once, I'm perfectly satisfied taking a little bit here and there. But I have to take the bite, the party has to take the bite," Steele said.

But African-American party loyalty runs deep, with some black voters seeing Democrats as more focused on a domestic agenda, Weiner reported.

"Every time a Democrat's in office, we get social programs, like HUD or Americorps, that's how we pay for tuition," Samantha Potts, a student, said.

"How they're going to create jobs, what will they do with war and peace, it would take an awful lot for me to switch over, a miracle," Quiana Jenifer, a student, said.

Some voters, even Democratic leaders, acknowledge that leaders have to win over the electorate again.

"Any party should approach the vote in terms of respect and demonstrate that you've earned the right to get vote. I think the Democrats have done that," said Ike Leggett, the chairman of Maryland's Democratic party.

Steele said a realistic goal would be to win over 1 percent more African-American voters than in 2000, when George W. Bush received about 9 percent of that vote.

Ehrlich: Democrats Racist In Appeal To Black Voters

Gov. Bob Ehrlich told Maryland delegates at the Republican National Convention Monday that the Democratic Party is "racist" in its appeal to black voters.

He said the Democratic National Convention's message to blacks is that if they don't think a certain way, they are traitors to their race.

Steele, who is black, stood at Ehrlich's side as he spoke at a morning caucus of the Maryland delegation. Steele's scheduled to speak Tuesday at the convention as part of the GOP attempt to reach out to black voters.

Rep. Albert Wynn, D-District 4, a black Congressman from Prince George's County, told The (Baltimore) Sun that the governor's comments were "a gross distortion of the Democratic message." He said the Republican Party has resisted affirmative action and opposed many of the social programs that support blacks.

Stay with TheWBALChannel.com and WBAL-TV 11 News for the latest Commitment 2004 updates.

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