"John McCain's campaign stop has everything to do with political tactics and nothing to do with genuinely reaching out to voters," said Alex Goepfert, spokesman for the Ohio Democratic Party.

Another high-ranking Democrat, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that appearing before a predominantly black audience from which the Republican presidential candidate has a scant chance of getting votes is designed to earn McCain points with moderate white voters.

McCain dismissed such conjecture: "I know why I'm going," he told The Dispatch last week. "I'm going to tell them that I will be president of all the people."

McCain said it is important for him to "go to places where there may not be a lot of Republican votes," and he rejected notions that black voters can't be swayed because of Democratic Sen. Barack Obama, soon to be the first black presidential nominee, in the race.

"When you look at the education needs and small-business needs of minorities, including Hispanics and African-Americans, that's more important for them than perhaps any other voters. I'm not going to raise their taxes; Sen. Obama will."

More than 8,000 people -- occupying every available downtown hotel room -- are descending on Cincinnati this week for the NAACP convention and a rare opportunity to hear from both presidential candidates. Obama, who is scheduled to speak tonight, will have a definite home-court advantage, but McCain will be "very warmly" received, predicted state Rep. Tyrone Yates, the Cincinnati Democrat who is chairman of the convention's host committee.

"While historically race has been a major factor in political decision-making, unfortunately, people are very interested in what Sens. McCain and Obama have to say," Yates said. "It's a mark of courage and character on Sen. McCain's part not to avoid a significant group of voters who are among the most sophisticated in the nation."

Mayor Mark Mallory, the first popularly elected African-American mayor of Cincinnati, said that although he is an Obama supporter, he recognizes that McCain could be the next president.

"It's important for him to be here because it's not just about the conventioneers hearing from the candidates, but the candidates themselves have got to understand the issues that are important to the NAACP and, by extension, the issues that are important to African-Americans all across the country," Mallory said.

Last July, McCain skipped the NAACP convention in Detroit, as did eight of the 10 other Republicans then running for president. McCain also was among the top four GOP candidates in September who were criticized for missing a nationally televised debate aimed at black voters. It was moderated by broadcaster Tavis Smiley at Morgan State University, a historically black school.

Polling shows that McCain has little support from black voters. A mid-June poll of battleground states by Quinnipiac University in Connecticut showed Obama winning 90 percent of black votes in Ohio and 95 percent in Pennsylvania and Florida.

"I'm not going to go so overboard and so partisan to say that he is wasting his time (at the NAACP convention)," Chris Redfern, chairman of the Ohio Democratic Party, said, praising McCain for reaching out to black voters.

But he and Gov. Ted Strickland, a Democrat, said McCain faces difficult odds trying to woo black voters, not just because of their historic opportunity to elect a black president but because black voters align more strongly with Democrats on issues.

Still, Strickland lauded McCain for speaking at the NAACP convention. "I think it's wrong for a presidential candidate to assume that any constituency group is lost to them."

McCain faces another impediment with black voters: They disapprove of President Bush's job performance in much higher ratios than white voters. The June Quinnipiac poll showed that 93 percent of black voters in Ohio, 97 percent in Pennsylvania and 79 percent in Florida disapproved of the way Bush is handling his job.

"President Bush is very unpopular with the African-American voting bloc, and there doesn't appear to be much difference at this juncture between Sen. McCain's views and President Bush's policies," Yates said.

J. Kenneth Blackwell, the 2006 GOP nominee for Ohio governor and a prominent black conservative, wrote last week in his column for Townhall.com that McCain must challenge the NAACP members "to rise above racial politics" and appeal to them on issues such as school choice, energy independence, health care, retirement security and national security.

"Although Mr. McCain cannot win the African-American vote in this election, he can get a respectable percentage," Blackwell wrote. "He first will receive points for showing up in Cincinnati, and if he makes the case that his agenda is what will best address African-Americans' concerns and safeguard the nation, he can close the deal with some."

jhallett@dispatch.com