Michael Steele Cancels Talk to Journalists Because of Food Poisoning

SAN DIEGO -- The advance team for Michael Steele told the National Association of Black Journalists on Friday that the Republican National Committee chairman was canceling a scheduled afternoon appearance because of food poisoning, NABJ has announced.
"While traveling out West the Chairman came down with a bad case of food poisoning," the RNC statement said. "He is disappointed to miss the opportunity to take part in this valuable dialogue and looks forward to engaging with NABJ in the very near future." Steele did not visit a hospital, but consulted a doctor, an RNC spokesman told CNN.

"(The cancellation) is understandable if it truly is food poisoning," Drew Berry, NABJ's interim executive director, was quoted on the convention website. "But I'd be very disappointed if I learned it was for some other reason."

The day after former U.S. Agriculture Department official Shirley Sherrod – at the NABJ convention – announced plans to sue Andrew Breitbart, Steele was sure to face questions about his scheduled appearance with the conservative blogger at an RNC fundraiser in California next month.
Sherrod was forced to resign after Breitbart posted a video excerpt of a speech she delivered at an NAACP event. She was initially accused of being a racist, but after the entire video was released, she received an apology and offer of a new USDA position.
Breitbart initially accepted an invitation to speak at the NABJ convention before changing his mind, according to NABJ.

When asked by NABJ Convention Chair Elise Durham if Steele's cancellation and the fundraiser were related, Joey Smith, special assistant to the chairman, said, "We don't comment on our finance events and never have."

Steele was scheduled to have an hour-long conversation with CNN's Roland Martin on the message of "Life, Liberty and Legacy." Audience questions usually follow events.
Besides Breitbart, Steele might also have been asked about unreported RNC election debt, controversial comments criticizing the Afghanistan War, charges of "racist elements" in the Tea Party and challenges to his leadership within the GOP. Steele's election to chair the RNC was once thought to be a part of continuing Republican efforts to appeal to minority voters after the election of Barack Obama, a Democratic president who happens to be African-American.