Michael Steele's GOP minority outreach program not doing so well

In a recent Washington Post poll, 23 percent of non-white registered voters said they had favorable views of the Republican Party, compared with 72 percent who viewed the GOP unfavorably. Those numbers were similar to polls taken in 2008, before Steele took over as RNC chairman, when 28 percent of non-white voters had favorable views of the party and 67 percent unfavorable.

African Americans’ views of the GOP have barely budged since Steele’s tenure began: In Post-ABC News polls following Steele’s becoming the GOP’s first-ever party chairman, 78 percent of blacks say they view the GOP unfavorably, again virtually unchanged from two years earlier.

Beyond a handful of speeches by Steele at places like Howard University, there is little evidence the GOP has launched an “off the hook” public relations offensive that would take the party to “urban-suburban hip-hop settings,” something Steele promised in an interview with the Washington Times shortly after taking the RNC reins…

Steele’s ability to connect with minority voters, nonpartisan analysts say, has been hampered by his spending so many of his media appearances defending himself.