The Obama campaign, intent on taking some of the crucial Latino vote in California away from Hillary Clinton, organized a daylong door-to-door canvas on Saturday in the region's most Spanish-speaking city just south of Disneyland.
200 volunteers showed up for a morning rally in Santa Ana before heading out for the final push to canvas their precincts. The tote board in the streetfront Obama office showed 51 precinct captains had already logged almost 8,500 calls.
The LA Times poll last week had Obama getting under 30 per cent of the state's Latinos in the primary, while Hillary was at 60 percent.
Santa Ana is the most Spanish-speaking city in the US. In 2006 it became the largest US city with an all-Latino city council. Santa Ana is also a city where the mayor, Miguel Pulido, has endorsed Hillary; where the representative in congress, Loretta Sanchez, has endorsed Hillary; and where Hillary herself campaigned in December with Latina icon Dolores Huerta.
Nevertheless the Obama effort in Santa Ana is big, well-organized and energetic. At the rally, office staffer Abraham Jenkins asked how many of the 200 volunteers had worked in previous campaigns. A few hands went up. Then he asked, "How many are first timers?" Almost everybody raised their hands.
The headliner at the rally was Congressman Xavier Becerra from L.A., one of Obama's highest profile Latino supporters. He recalled that Bobby Kennedy campaigned as an underdog in the California primary in 1968, and brought a new kind of hope to voters. "Someone stole that from us in 1968," he said; "someone tried to snuff out the light. But 40 years later, we have that spark again."
He told the precinct walkers the key arguments to make when they knocked on Latino doors: At the top of the list: "Obama is the son of an immigrant." Second: "Obama is a Harvard law grad who went to work as a community organizer." Then "tell them to read La Opinion, which today endorsed Obama;" and "tell them why this is your first time working in a campaign - why you are doing this."
The enthusiasm and energy of the first-timers was unmistakable, but it didn't solve the big problem facing the Obama operation in Santa Ana: the precinct walkers were a largely white group in an overwhelmingly Latino city. When staffers asked how many of the 200 volunteers were bilingual, perhaps a dozen raised their hands.
One of those was Elvira Rios, a precinct captain, a retired schoolteacher and a "first timer." Her perspective on Latino voters is radically different from what you get in the media. "The biggest challenge is not getting them to switch from Hillary to Obama," she said. "The biggest challenge is getting them to vote at all."
She said she has been working in Santa Ana for Obama for the last ten days from nine to nine, and only a week ago she had to start with the basics: "voters needed to hear his name - many didn't really know his name."
The biggest Clinton supporters among Latinos, she said, are "the mothers." But "it's amazing how many young Latinos were trying to talk their parents into voting for Barack. I see this all the time."
Were the kids succeeding? She shook her head no: "Older Latinos," she said emphatically, "are so stubborn."
Unlike Elvira Rios, the great majority of Obama volunteers in Santa Ana were young Anglos who didn't speak Spanish. Several were students at nearby UC Irvine. Rebecca Westerman is one - she lives in Santa Ana and is an Obama precinct captain for her Latino precinct. She told me that she has reached one-third of the 800 voters on her list. "I'm focusing on the 18-25 year olds," she said, "because that's where we've gotten a good response."
Mark Hendrickson is a recent grad of UC Irvine and another Santa Ana resident and precinct captain. In his canvassing, he said, "I get mostly Spanish speakers, but I don't speak Spanish." As the two of them were about to head out, the office staff was trying to find bilingual partners for each of them; they found one woman volunteer from the neighborhood - she was wearing a UNITE-HERE T-shirt -- but she had to go to work. So the two went out to canvas by themselves, full of youthful energy and hope.
Five hours later, Westerman reported that "We actually had a really good response from our entirely Latino precinct. Suprisingly, more people were already supporting Obama than Clinton - and our limited Spanish got us a long way."
To be a campaign veteran in this operation is to have worked in Obama's Las Vegas effort a couple of weeks ago, which several people had done. Two staffers had worked for several months in Iowa. As for people with campaign experience before that, the only one was Jocelyn Anderson, a paid regional field director who is African American. She had volunteered for the Clinton campaigns in 1992 and in 1996, the first in Alabama and the second in Michigan.
Asked her how the Obama effort compared to those, she said "This is more than a campaign. It's a movement. The least of it is the policy issues. Obama is moving people to change the world." She added, "Hillary is a great candidate, but Obama is the first time you don't have to vote the lesser of two evils."
Only a few Latinos from the neighborhood showed up for the rally. Afterwards, one young Latino couple with two children introduced themselves to Congressman Becerra, and the man explained why he was supporting Obama: "I have older cousins lost to the war, and I don't want my kids. . . ." his voice trailed off. "I know," Becerra said quietly. "Thank you for coming today."
The energy of the 200 volunteers in Santa Ana on Saturday was real; their passion was palpable. But the election was only three days away. How much success could this effort have in winning Latino votes for Obama? Nobody in the office would hazard a guess; Giovanii Jorquera, community outreach director, said quite honestly, "we'll see on Tuesday." Congressman Becerra summed it up best: "if people only had a little more time to get to know him."
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Anghiari, Maybe bi-lingual classes should be part of general studies instead of elective courses in our schools. Sounds good, doesn't it? Maybe we could have a bake sale to help pay for it.
Obama's father came into the US with non-immigrant visa.
Where are our votes?
I invite you to check this link, http://fundrace.huffingtonpost.com/ to check how the big donors are contributing to the Democratic and Republican campaigns, and you will find that the majority of high contributions come from people that can afford to contribute to financially empower their favorite candidate. They want to make sure that their candidate will be in the White House to protect their interests, help them increase their wealth, and to enact policies to keep and increase their fortune and influence. They want to continue inside the elite that controls and reigns wages, employee benefits, and almost everything we need.
Why do you think they contribute to Hillary Clinton or the Republican candidates? Why do you think they very rarely contributed to John Edwards or Barack Obama? Now that Edwards has stepped out of the race, Barack Obama is the only one left, and they certainly WILL NOT contribute to his campaign.
These powerful contributors don"t give to Obama because they are afraid he will awaken the dormant middle class and poor population in the nation. We must increase the level of education and send more young people to the university, and we must increase our income and eliminate the numbers of people living in poverty.
The states where the middle class and the poor live are the ideal places to dream. We dream of a better future, a future where opportunities for growth, better education, well-paid teachers, and affordable health insurance will be available. We can dream bringing our heroic soldiers home from the war to receive prompt and efficient medical attention close to home, where they will heal from their physical, mental, and moral wounds. Obama can do it!
We need Barack in the White House and we are the only ones that can take him there. Let"s give these powerful contributors a lesson by ruining their plans. We can realize our dreams if we vote OBAMA. Remember, YES WE CAN. SI SE PUEDE. VOTE OBAMA!
"Only a few Latinos from the neighborhood showed up for the rally. Afterwards, one young Latino couple with two children introduced themselves to Congressman Becerra, and the man explained why he was supporting Obama: "I have older cousins lost to the war, and I don't want my kids. . . ." his voice trailed off. "I know," Becerra said quietly. "Thank you for coming today.""
What bind us ALL together in California - THE WAR.
California has the largest proportion of people serving in the military. Hence, we've also experienced the 'on the ground' horrors of seeing our children and families subjected to the deaths and maiming of their soul supporters in the name of some stupid ideology of "give 'em peace and they will fall in line"....
We are SICK of burying our dead and having to fight for support for our wounded.
AND THAT IS THE DIFFERENCE OBAMA SHOULD PUSH.
Hillary BELIEVES IN PRE-EMPTIVE WAR FOR POLITICAL REASONS (she was a Department of War again)
Obama, I believe, will immediately start political processes to end this fiasco.
(Hence, he still believes it is correctly named the Department of DEFENSE).
NOW - if each is asked for SPECIFIC 'NATIONAL INTERESTS' that seem so important for defending in far away places - let them spell them out in great detail.
What ARE those specific "NATIONAL INTERESTS"?
The oil companies have proven this year they are perfectly capable of paying for PRIVATE SECURITY for THEIR CORPORATE INTERESTS.
Now, show me the REAL "NATIONAL INTERESTS".
LOL - Check out the best Hillary Spoof ever!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGMgxFE6bms
Obama says it is important to get it right on day one, yet he himself readily admits he pushed the wrong button a few times when in the Illinois legislature. Isn't that the same as getting it wrong on day one of that vote? And I don't think there is a "present" option in the white house.
Watch George W. Bushes run for office in 2000. Listen to what he said "change, I am not a washington insider, elect me and I'll bring the DEMS and REP back together, I did it in Texas, I'll bring interegity back to the white house....and on and on. And how well did that turn out?
Hillary is telling the facts to the American people. Or don't Obama followers want to hear his true record.
Obama is very divisive. He preaches a sermon I can go to church for. And nothing he says makes me believe he can ever be president.
Look at the facts. Bush said during his first campaign Washington politicans can not be trusted to fix Americans problems. So elect me George Bush. Obama has said the same thing. Neither had or has any idea what their talking about.
Inexperince has gotten thousands of brave soliders dead in Iraq and no way out. And inexperience cost hundreds of New Orleans their lives.
And Obama is a politican who has burned bridges and played games to become the Senator he is today. How do you think he got the money to run his campaign? Being a politican makes you dirty in the first place. Favors for political contribtions goes back to George Washington. There is no Mr. Clean politican out there, only a con job on the American people. Voters do your research. The only politican above it is a politican that you have never heard of.
Did I miss it? Or did you mention that Saturday the 2nd was the Orange County's Black History Parade and Cultural Faire in...Santa Ana?
None of this shameless pandering by both candidates promoting ethnocentric identity voting by Hispanic spells anything but disaster for Democrats regardless who gets the nomination.
Lets face it the Kennedy clan's new found love for Obama is not about "change or cambio". It is about a vain attempt at protecting Teddy's ego from a brutal bruising. Truth be told polls indicate that the plurality of Democrats strongly opposed the heinous and near treasonous Kennedy/McCain/Bush "Comprehensive Immigration Reform" bill. Yet Kennedy in the twilight of his career sees Obama as his best hope of protecting his disasterous Open Borders political legacy.
If the unlikely happens and Obama gets the nomination many hard pressed working class and middle class Democrats white, black and yes even some latino will abandon the party in mass. Only Obama and his upper class white class liberal supporters are self deluded enough to be in denial that illegal immigration, "nonimmigrant" visa programs and unsustainable legal immigration are depressing labor markets through over supply and the further enabling of outsourcing.
If Hillary get the nomination one can be assured the corrupt Clintonistas' instincts will be to triangulate like mad towards the center on immigration so has to be on the restrictionist side of the debate compared to the pro Open Borders McCain. While that sounds like a winning general election strategy the problem is that the establishment and corporate teat sucking Latino ethnocentric lobbies like La Raza and LULAC may not be able to keep the more radical Open Borders groups like MEChA and the ANSWER loons inline.
Protests disolving into riots on the streets of Denver anyone? 2008 = 1968! Hello! Hello!
UC Irvine Anteaters! ZOT ZOT ZOT
Lets see. It just came out today that of all the people in the Senate, Obama has the most liberal record. Now, I am looking to see when the last time was that a person with the most liberal voting record in the senate was elected president. Hold on I almost got it.....
NEVER.
Did I miss it? Or did you mention that Saturday the 2nd is the Orange County's Black History Parade and Cultural Faire in...Santa Ana?
If Obama can close the gap of the Latinos that vote to 10% difference then he has a solid chance to come out even in Cal. That's all we need. As long as we don't get blown out here then, Yes We Can.
Obama 08
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Posted February 2, 2008 | 06:48 PM (EST)