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

win a key victory.
ASU in the News
Analysts give many reasons for Clinton’s dominance in this group: "She has a famous name, a long
history with the community and a husband who put many Hispanics in his Cabinet and administration.
" Her focus on economic nuts and bolts may have had more appeal to Hispanics than Obama’s
’change’ message. ’This population is very blue-collar,’ says Roberto Suro, a University of Southern
California professor and former head of the Pew Hispanic Center. That puts them squarely within the
lower-income, less educated demographic Clinton has dominated in primaries to date. "Blue-collar
Hispanics are less likely to know of Obama. ’People who hear about a challenger tend to be higher
educated individuals’ who watch news and use the Web, said Rodolfo Espino, a political scientist at
Arizona State University. "In California, Suro said, Clinton started lining up endorsements and
making appearances as far back as 2006. On Tuesday, she had help getting out the vote from many
elected officials with effective political organizations, including Los Angeles Mayor Antonio
Villaraigosa.
All the analysts dismissed the idea that Obama is lagging because Latinos are reluctant to vote for
blacks. Barreto said there’s very little evidence of that. To the contrary, black mayors Harold
Washington of Chicago, David Dinkins of New York, Wellington Webb of Denver and Ron Kirk of
Dallas all received overwhelming Hispanic support when they were elected to office.
Obama’s own career is another example, Barreto said: In his 2004 Senate primary, Obama won
more Hispanic votes than Latino candidate Gerry Chico.
In 2008, for Obama, ’it’s a name-recognition thing,’ Barreto said. ’It’s an outreach thing.’
75