asu in the news 02-06-08 to - ASU News - Arizona State University

ASU in the News
URL: Link to original text
Source: USATODAY.com
Title: Poly sci prof comments on Democratic race
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Full Text: WASHINGTON - The ongoing Democratic presidential race combined with Latino
population growth and diverse states on the early calendar have ignited the first spirited battle for
Hispanic votes in a primary season. DEMOCRATS: Race now a test of endurance DELEGATES:
Count can be confusing
The rivalry between Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama is a turning point, said Simon
Rosenberg, president of the New Democrat Network, which studies Hispanic voting. ’Hispanics have
arrived as a major force. This is now a permanent condition of American politics in the 21st century,’
he said. Clinton, the New York senator and former first lady, has a 16-year history of working with
Hispanics and began laying the groundwork with them for her presidential run in late 2006. Obama,
the Illinois senator, started a push for Hispanic votes last month as Feb. 5 primaries neared in several
states with large Hispanic voting blocs.
Obama won 26% of the Hispanic vote in the Nevada caucuses Jan. 19, compared with 64% for
Clinton.
In states this week where at least 10% of voters were Hispanic, his share ranged from 26% in
Clinton’s home state of New York to 50% in his own home state of Illinois, surveys of voters leaving
the polls showed. In California, where three in 10 voters were Hispanic, his 32% share was an
improvement on earlier polls but not enough to help him win. DEMOCRATS: Race now a test of
endurance DELEGATES: Count can be confusing Republican candidates did not have a high-profile
competition for Hispanics. In California they were 13% of the electorate. Arizona Sen. John McCain, a
supporter of paths to citizenship for illegal immigrants, received more of the vote than his rivals, 39%.
Obama was boosted in the days before Super Tuesday by endorsements from Massachusetts Sen.
Edward Kennedy and Southern California’s La Opinin, the largest Spanish-language daily newspaper
in the USA. He also made points in a debate at which he reaffirmed his support for driver’s licenses
for illegal immigrants and refused to blame them for joblessness among blacks.
On Wednesday, Obama said he has made ’enormous progress’ among Hispanics and will do better
as he becomes more familiar. ’It’s just a matter of us getting more information to them,’ he said in
Chicago. ’As Latino voters get to know me & they realize I’m somebody who’s going to be battling for
all people, including Latino voters.’ Still, several analysts say Obama was late to ramp up his appeal
to Hispanics, and it cost him in Nevada and California. ’You have to ask Latinos for their vote and not
just assume you have their vote because you share this common history of oppression,’ said Andra
Gillespie, a political scientist at Emory University in Atlanta.
Obama introduced himself in Feb. 5 states with a Spanish-language television ad just days before
Super Tuesday. Matt Barreto, an expert on Latino politics at the University of Washington, said
Obama made far less use of Spanish-language radio in the Southwest. ’That was a huge mistake. It
is a very powerful medium,’ he said. Texas is the only remaining primary with a major Hispanic
component, on March 4. Rosenberg and others said Obama needs to introduce himself, talk about
his views on immigration and his plans to help struggling workers, and generally signal that he cares.
’This is no longer about sending surrogates. He’s got to make the case himself,’ Rosenberg said.
Obama spokesman Tommy Vietor rejected the notion that the campaign got a late start, noting the
primary season is ’sequential’ and outreach to Hispanics in the first contest, in Iowa, helped Obama
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