Missing in Action

The Republican front runners screwed up.  No more delicate way to put it than that.

This column pretty much says it all.

We start with a tip for those who seek elective office: In order to be successful in politics, you try to get every vote you can earn while making sure that your opponent earns every vote he gets.

Many Republican candidates for president have forgotten this rule. They seem to think it's better to give than to receive, as illustrated by their willingness to give up on attracting many minority voters.

With their support for freedom and economic fairness, Republicans have a message that those voters need to hear. Ronald Reagan understood that, and so did George W. Bush. Both men did very well with Hispanic voters. But you can't share the message if you don't even begin the dialogue. And for some reason, many in the current crop of Republican presidential candidates are staying away from specialized debates that might give them an opportunity to speak directly to Hispanic and African-American voters.

And

Whatever the reason for these snubs of minority voters, they don't represent a very smart strategy. But they are helpful to Democrats, who probably just underwent a bump in their popularity with some of those voters. Judging from the last presidential election, the Democratic Party already enjoys a nearly 9-to-1 advantage with black voters, and a 3-to-2 advantage with Hispanics. But it could always get better for Democrats – just as it can always get worse for Republicans.

In fact, Democrats might now be so confident that they've got minority voters in the bag that they can ignore them and focus on winning the support of other voters. This sort of benign neglect, for which Democrats are famous, wouldn't be good for anyone, especially the voters.

It certainly wouldn't be good for the political process, which works best when votes are competed for and not conceded.

UPDATE:  Another pundit offers more of the same.  Big mistake.