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March 13, 2004
Adiós Bill
Jones, Latinos are in Play
By Steven J. Ybarra, JD/HispanicVista.com
"WASHINGTON -
U.S. Senator Jon Corzine (D-NJ), Chairman
of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign
Committee (DSCC), hailed the developments
in the U.S. Senate race in Colorado today
as leading Democrats, including Rutt
Bridges and Congressman Mark Udall,
rallied behind state Attorney General Ken
Salazar who entered the race this
afternoon. Corzine praised Udall
and Bridges for their selflessness in
stepping aside for Salazar, the highest
ranking Democratic official in
Colorado. Corzine said that
Colorado joins a string of open seat
races, including North Carolina, South
Carolina and Oklahoma where Democrats
thus far have avoided competitive
primaries. On the flip side,
Corzine noted that it is increasingly
likely that the Republicans will face a
crowded and expensive primary for the
chance to run against Salazar."
The news release
above was put out by the Democrats on the
entry of Ken Salazar in the Senate race
in Colorado. It was put out after
Ben "Nighthorse" Campbell
decided that his "health" would
be better if he did not run for
reelection. I know Ken; he lives in
a democratic house. He is a good
guy. I also know that this means
that Bill Jones is adiós in the
California Senate race. The fight
just went north.
All the money that
ole Bill thought he was going to get to
fight the "evil" Barbara Boxer
just went to make sure that the Democrats
do not get the 51st vote in the
Senate. This is good because I like
Barbara. On several occasions I
have sat in the same room with her when
critical issues to the Latino community
were discussed. You may recall that
once upon a time she supported putting
national guard troops on the border to
help the INS stop the flow of
immigration. Some guys like to
point to this border troops issue as the
one that defines Barbara on Latino
issues. I, like a bunch of people,
went ballistic. Babs has since
changed her position.
Ken, on the other
hand, pretty much represents all things
that are Democrat Party Latino. He
is a fairly moderate guy, much like me.
I know that a lot of folks laugh when I
say I am a conservative man. I
really am. There are Democratic
Party positions on issues that offend
me. I have been known to comment
that I really should be a Republican,
except that I am afraid that one day
someone will come and put me on a train
to Mexico. I know a lot of history
on this point. My wife's father,
who is a U.S. citizen and WWII veteran,
has stories. His family remembered
a time in the early 1900's in Casa Blanca
in Riverside County, California when many
family members were deported to Mexico
during the flu pandemic and died of
malaria in Mexico. You get the
idea.
So why do I think
California is in play if the Senate race
just went south for Bill?
Let us look at issues that affect the
Latino community. On things like
Immigration, Jobs, the Economy,
Education, Health Care, and Civil
Liberties the Democrats are right on the
mark. But it is the little issues
that Democrats stumble over in the Latino
community. While Welfare is
appreciated to take care of those who do
not have anybody to take care of them, it
is real far down on the list - scoring
less than 1% on a new private national
poll of Latino Democratic Voters.
As an important issue, Welfare, like
Public Services, was ranked under ten
percent.
What seems to be a
real problem is that while Latinos (who
in marked numbers disfavor abortion) will
vote for a candidate who supports
abortion, they seem to stop at gay
marriage. The numbers are
stunning. It seems this
"morality" issue is a big one
for Latinos. These folks, who have
been one of the most abused groups by the
Catholic Church, are quick to accept the
apologies of the pedophiles and keep
going to church, but they have a real
problem on how to accept the gay marriage
issue.
Let us remember that "Bush the
lesser" got 37% of the Latino vote
in 2000. A fifteen percent vote
shift in this population gives Bush the
race in a walk. In California, it
is the margin in a very tight race.
Recall that New Mexico was Democratic by
only 487 votes. Oregon went for
Gore by under 7000 votes. That,
coincidentally, is the number of new
registered Latinos in Oregon. And,
nobody has been president unless they win
Nevada. In Nevada it is all about
Latinos, they are the margin of victory
and no Democratic candidate in the 2004
primary had a statewide organization
headed up by a reputable Latino that I
know of!
Personally I can't
figure it out. But here is the question
of the day.
How will the
Democrats deal with the potential fifteen
percent shift in the Presidential vote?
The Republicans have
been working very hard to get the Latino
vote. Despite the ugly scars of
Prop 187, there has been a marked shift
in the number of votes cast for
Republicans.
The NewDems
organization by the Hispano leaders
Cisneros and Richardson, which is pledged
to raise five million dollars to get
Latinos to vote Democratic, has done
little to train political operatives to
get the message through. Once again
the media will be the message.
Unfortunately for the Democrats, media
does not work effectively with the Latino
community. The fact that 3 out of
every 5 Latinos are born here is
something that both sides seem to
overlook. Second and third
generation immigrants are always more
conservative than the new guys; it is
kind of like we got ours, you get yours,
but do not bother us. The Fernando
Oaxaca's of the world will argue very
strongly that the Democratic party does
not represent traditional Hispano
values. He is right of course; the
Spanish are either very fascist or very
communist. Neither of which I
am. Racism is always an issue in
every election and it is the elephant in
the room in this one. Not the one
of black and white, but how Latinos will
be treated by the Democrats in this race.
The lack of
training, the lack of resources and the
lack of attention to issues that matter
to us will result in at least a ten
percent and possibly fifteen percent
shift of Latino voters that vote in
California. Something Arnold is
probably counting on. The red
counties in California are filled with
conservative Latinos like me. It
may not be a hard stretch to get them to
go over to the dark side.
So kids get ready,
let us see what the Democrats do with the
resources that they do have. The
use of Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez,
Assemblyman Marco Firebaugh, and
Congressman Joe Baca, to name a few,
should be on the radar screen.
If the Democrats
screw up like they did in 2000, it is
going to be President Bush for the first
time.
P.S.: Rosario - See
above for how a political party gets
behind a Latino candidate for Senate.
__________________________________________________
Steven Ybarra, JD, a contributing
columnist to HispanicVista.com (www.hispanicvista.com),
is a retired civil rights attorney who
operates a consultant company in
California. He is a member of the
Democratic National Committee and a long
time political activist. Contact Steven
at: sjybarra@aol.com
SJYbarra@aol.com
-- This article is copyright by Steven J.
Ybarra JD, originally published in www.Hispanicvista.com,
but permission is granted for reprint in
print, email, blog, or web media if this
entire credit paragraph is attached.
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