Obama, Ted Kennedy and the Latinos

Obama received Ted Kennedy’s endorsements today. What I found interesting while reading various news sources today of the endorsement from Ted Kennedy is that more than once it was suggested that his endorsement “will help Obama with traditional Democratic groups where Clinton has been strong – union households, Hispanics and downscale worker.”

 

Being that I am second generation Mexican American, I am trying to think of how this endorsement will help with Latinos. My dad and his siblings overwhelmingly supported Obama before the endorsement. They lived through the JFK presidency as children, but what about those Latinos that didn’t? I mean those specifically that arrived during the massive immigration of the 1980s.

 

In the polls, Latinos prefer Hillary. I am thinking it is because they witnessed the Clinton presidency of the ‘90s. I do not think many Latinos that naturalized in the U.S. and are registered voters know the history behind the Kennedy family. I also think racial tension plays a factor and more so with those who have not been here long.

 

I do not know how significant endorsements are in attracting votes, but I am curious about the results of Super Tuesday, especially those from California.

 

Ted Kennedy will be campaigning for Obama throughout Arizona, New Mexico and California. I am looking forward to the Spanish-speaking media’s coverage of Ted Kennedy campaigning and the effect it has. Today both Obama and Kennedy were interviewed by and Spanish reporter at Univision, Spanish television station.

 

I didn’t find any article focusing on the connection between Ted Kennedy and Latinos. These two articles I borrowed snippets from for my post:

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0108/8161.html

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0108/8134_Page2.html

Independent Votes in California go to Democrats

Interesting decision by the Republican Party to only allow registered Party voters to vote in the primaries. In my opinion this is only going to hurt the Republican Party. Currently 42.7% of registered voters are Democrats, 33.6% Republican, and 19.3% Independent. With the Republican Party losing roughly 20% of the vote, I do not understand the reasoning behind this decision. In the LA Times Hector Barajas was claiming that the party decided to exclude non-party affiliates because he felt that the Independent voters could create mischief in many areas where there are more Independent voters than Republicans. While I understand that California is a more liberal and democratic state, I still feel that the parites especially the Republicans would want all the votes that they can get.
In my opinion by not allowing Independent voters to vote in the Republican primary will lead to fewer Independent voters in the actual election. By discouraging voters now, I feel that many are going to be reluctant to change their vote in the actual election after being dismissed in the primary. Therefore the Democratic Party will claim majority if not more of the Independent votes. It will be interesting to follow this through to the actual election and whether or not after the presidential nominees are selected; the Republican candidate can change the Independent voter’s opinion of the Party.


http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-me-independents21jan21,1,6812616.story?ctrack=1&cset=true