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California Recalljust report, write, plan coverage, andedit—all of which I normally do eachday given the smaller size of our paper.In addition to these roles, I became asource for other journalists, as moreand more called to interview me. Theywere trying to better understandLatinos and to explain us, as Americans,to Spanish-speaking audiencesthroughout the world. Though thishappens during every political campaign,the interviewing demands onme were especially intense during thiselection, and the time I spent doingthem, of course, took away from myown reporting and editing hours.But I recognize that wearing thisother hat—and becoming a source ofnews—is now part of my job. Otherjournalists want me to present theLatino perspective on news shows; oftenI am asked to express the thoughts,feelings or trends in the Latino community,as if I can represent thethoughts and feelings of this large anddiverse group. “What do Latinos thinkabout this election?” I am asked repeatedly.Most of the time, such questionsstrike me as funny, because I’ve neverseen a colleague of the mainstreammedia being asked, “What do Anglosthink about this?”While I understand that these reporterscome to journalists like mebecause we are viewed as “experts,” Ioften wish they would go out into thecommunities themselves and find outon their own about what issues thepeople care about and why. It makesme realize that the lack of a strongLatino presence in newsrooms of mostmainstream publications presents ahandicap to these news organizations.Still, I try to explain to these reporterswhat I know as best as I can. I lookat this as an opportunity to representmy newspaper in front of a differentand broader audience. And I use theseplatforms to try to foster understandingabout the political, social or economicrealities in the Latino community.What I find is that the mainstreampopulation has very little understanding—beyondits usual stereotypes—ofwhat certain groups of people are likewho live only blocks away from them.Governor Gray Davis kisses his wife at a political rally. Photo by Ciro Cesar/La Opinión.With Arnold Schwarzenegger’s entranceinto the campaign, huge interestdeveloped worldwide about thepolitical process in California. Alongwith other colleagues at the newspaper,I received interview requests fromreporters in Latin America, Spain andother countries in Europe, includingthe BBC’s world service in Spanish. Myability to speak Spanish and Englishand firsthand knowledge of the storymade me a valued source.With these reporters I struggled toexplain that, in spite of the entertainmentquality of the story and insistenceby some that this was a circus, not aserious election, this was a very serious,legally sanctioned political eventthat would have real consequences forreal people.I was also invited to serve on thepanel of journalists that conducted thecandidate’s first debate in San Jose,California. There I worked with otherpolitical editors and reporters to preparequestions and topics for discussion.As a Latina journalist, my perspectivegenerated a few questionsabout social and economic issues ofparticular interest to the Spanish-speakingcommunity I serve. BecauseSchwarzenegger did not show up forthis debate, we were not able to get hisperspective on these issues.The Immigrant ConnectionIn California, the related topics of immigrationand demographic changesfind their way to the fore of nearlyevery political debate, and this recallelection proved to be no different. AtLa Opinión, two major angles of coveragefor our readers emerged early inthe campaign: Lieutenant GovernorCruz Bustamante, who became theDemocrat’s alternative candidate in therecall of the governor of his own party,is the first Latino to be the gubernatorialcandidate of a major party in modernCalifornia history. And, in an effortto win over Latino voters, Davis signedcontroversial legislation favored byLatino activists and unions to provideundocumented immigrants with thepossibility of obtaining driver’s licenses.Bustamante’s campaign proved tobe lackluster, and his candidacy’s purposewas hard for people to understandbecause of his politically complicatedmessage of “No on the recall, Yeson Bustamante.” With this campaign,there turned out to be very little tocover after an initial surge and a coupleof good proposals. Instead, the dynamicof the campaign started to re-Nieman Reports / Winter 2003 65