Telly Lovelace, who started last week as the new head of African-American outreach at the Republican National Committee (RNC), is well aware of the GOP’s enormous disadvantage heading into the November general election, but he’s certain he can make progress. The problem stretches back more than five decades; more recently, Mitt Romney earned just five percent of the black vote in 2012; John McCain earned a mere one percent in 2008. George W. Bush earned seven percent in 2004 and three percent in 2000.Lovelace pointed out that while most African-Americans are not currently supportive of Republican frontrunner Donald Trump, Lovelace sees the problem as one more of tone rather than overt racial bias. And when Trump first declared, Lovelace said many black voters seemed open to his candidacy.“Some of them were kind of, well initially, ‘He is a businessman, he’s created jobs, the celebrity status of him, The Apprentice [TV show],’” Lovelace said. “I thought there was the problems of the rhetoric, not disavowing the KKK. I don’t know if he had a moment or what.”Lovelace, an executive with IR+Media, an African-American owned, boutique PR firm, said that intra-party tone is one thing, but that a shift will occur after the July nominating process…
See original post: New Head of Black Outreach for Republicans: Trump, Cruz Need to Improve Tone