VOTE OF LATINO

«Cyber-Catch Up
Filling the Shoes of Solis

I don’t know Congresswoman Solis very well but I am a big fan. Growing up just north of her district, I have watched its transformation from a collection of white working class bedroom communities to the sort of Latino and Asian melting pot distinctive to Southern California. With her focus on issues like immigration and green jobs, she has done a fabulous job of taking the lead on national issues while also looking out for her constituents.
The one time she and I worked together was in 2005 when she asked me totestify before the DNC commission that was considering shaking up the presidential primary schedule. I love the political romance of Iowa and New Hampshire but there is no way I think those states should always be first — they don’t come anything close to resembling the rest of America. In the hearing, I was singing the praises of Arizona and Nevada. Harold Ickes, a top adviser to Hillary Clinton, wasn’t buying any of it.
MR. PINEDA: So that’s the opportunity here, to work out a primary schedule, especially with a state like Arizona, where it could be at some point first. I recognize the political consequences of doing that right away. But if we could have a state like Arizona going first, where percent of the population is Latino, where 17 percent of the primary electorate last time is Latino, then what we will have is candidates going there and really putting their money where their mouth is in terms of speaking to the issues that matter to the Latinos.
MR. ICKES: Yes. Thanks for your statement. You know, when you look at the ‘04 calendar, both Arizona and New Mexico, which I understand have very large Latino populations, came very early on. You had Iowa, which was on the 19th of January; you had New Hampshire on the 27th of January; and then you had on the 3rd of February, you had both Arizona and New Mexico. I was curious as to — you think that’s not early enough for big Latino states?
MR. PINEDA: Right, because I say it’s completely different to be first than to be early; that the level of energy that I saw and that I know that you’ve seen as well, that the level of energy in New Hampshire that comes from being the first state, that comes from the level of organization that is there, is much, much higher than anything that was in Arizona.
The irony of his resistance is that if either of those states went first instead of Iowa, Hillary Clinton’s strength with Latino voters would have probably carried her to a victory. And she would likely be president today.
But Iowa went first, Obama won and the rest is history. Including the appointment of Congresswoman Solis to the Obama cabinet as Secretary of Labor. Earlier this month local politicians were all aflutter over the prospect of Congressman Becerra’s seat opening up if he were to accept Obama’s offer to be United States Trade Representative. With his decision to stay and the nomination of Solis, attention moved a few miles east to the 32nd congressional district.Mike Soraghan of The Hill newspaper in Washington DC interviewed me about the candidates that are being mentioned:
The state senator who succeeded Rep. Hilda Solis (D-Calif.) in Sacramento is considered to be the leading contender to replace her in Congress, local political observers say.
Sen. Gloria Romero’s (D) district encompasses Solis’s district and she has told local newspapers that she is very interested in running. But she is still only one name in a crowded field of potential candidates.
Other names include state Board of Equalization Chairwoman Judy Chu, Assemblyman Ed Hernandez, state Sen. Gil Cedillo and one of “the Calderon” brothers – Assemblyman Charles Calderon or state Sen. Ron Calderon.
The race could be fought along ethnic or labor-business lines, said Los Angeles pollster Andre Pineda, who did Hispanic polling for the Obama presidential campaign.
Romero, Chu, or Cedillo would likely be popular with labor, he said, while one of the Calderons would draw more business support. The question, Pineda said, is whether local labor leaders – heads of the Service Employees International Union and the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor – will try to clear the field to avoid splitting the labor vote in a crowded primary and handing the race to one of the Calderons.
This entry was posted on Sunday, December 21st, 2008 at 6:04 pm and is filed underArizona,Blog,Election 2008,Latino Vote. You can follow any responses to this entry through theRSS 2.0 feed. You canleave a response, ortrackback from your own site.
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