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WASHINGTON — Organizers of minority-oriented debates are not buying GOP presidential contenders' claims that scheduling conflicts are keeping them away from candidate forums targeted at Hispanic and black voters.

In the latest of what's become a pattern, the four top-tier GOP candidates have declined to show up for a Sept. 27 black-oriented debate organized by PBS broadcaster Tavis Smiley.

Only California Rep. Duncan Hunter attended a June forum hosted by the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials. And when only Arizona Sen. John McCain agreed to show up, Univision, with a massive Hispanic audience, indefinitely postponed a planned GOP debate earlier this month.

The no-shows by the Republicans could undercut what has been an aggressive GOP effort in recent years, led by President Bush, to lure minority voters.

"It is a litmus test for a Republican Party that, in the past, has run away from black voters and only selectively interacted with Hispanic citizens," said Cornel West, a Harvard University professor of African-American studies.

The Sept. 27 debate at Morgan State University in Baltimore, West wrote, "has put the limelight on the dilemma of the Republican Party."

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and McCain will be absent, but not forgotten, at the debate. Smiley spokesman David Brokaw said empty podiums would be on stage as "a testament to their absentia."

On hand for the debate, to be broadcast on PBS, will be Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, Hunter, Texas Rep. Ron Paul and Colorado Rep. Tom Tancredo.

In recent days, Smiley has criticized the candidates who won't be there, saying "no one should be elected president of this country in 2008 if they ignore people of color."

"If they want to be president of all America they need to speak to all Americans," he said on "The Tonight Show."