Expect the national media to emphasize, as they do every four years, that the Republican Convention is too white. An early whiff came in a front-page conventions preview in Thursday’s USA Today. Reporter David Jackson started laying the groundwork under a “Needing diversity” sub-headline:

The convention lineup, announced Wednesday, features many of McCain’s former rivals for the nomination, such as former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney and former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani. But with a few exceptions, such as remarks by Sen. Mel Martinez of Florida and Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, not many minorities will be featured…. A poll last month by the Pew Hispanic Center showed that Latino voters favor Obama over McCain, 66%-23%, and believe the Democrat would do a better job than the Republican on education, immigration and health care. President Bush won more than 40% of the Hispanic vote in 2004, according to some surveys of voters.McCain said he did not believe the immigration issue has hurt him with Hispanics. His stance has evolved from emphasizing more temporary “guest worker” programs to now stressing border security.

Jackson did not look at these Pew numbers and wonder whether Hispanic Catholics have utterly abandoned their church’s views on abortion and other social issues. Obama is clearly trying to keep these voters by twice insisting on Saturday that Biden is a “committed Catholic.”