It’s all out in the open, now, isn’t it? No more Atwater-style coded language. No more dog whistles. WaPo:

Such were the scheduling conflicts that left the lecterns for the leading candidates for the Republican presidential nomination empty at what was billed as the first GOP debate tailored to the concerns of black voters, held last night at Morgan State University in Baltimore.

Forced pregnancy loon Brownback showed up, as did the much more dangerous Huckabee (they’ll never nominate him, fortunately).

But Tooliani? Willard? Poor old John McCain? Much too busy doing something that is far more important them than black voters:

Fred D. Thompson was at a fundraiser in Franklin, Tenn. Mitt Romney was gathering checks in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif. Rudolph W. Giuliani was in California raking in some last-minute cash just north of Napa. John McCain spent the day in New York City, giving a speech and raising money.

Hey, I want to be fair to Golfcart Fred, though. Maybe he just forgot.