This week, Democrats and especially Hispanic voters, lost an incredible ally when Andre Pineda died. I worked with him on races in 1994 and 1996, and kept in touch through the ephemeral world of Facebook, which proves to have missed something. http://www.campaignsandelections.com/...
Andre was a scholar, a gentleman, and an extremely funny man - all qualities that are rare and deeply appreciated in the world of campaigns. He had no ego about himself, and was always several steps ahead of anyone else in the room about the reality of what was going on in a campaign. He never had a bad word to say about anybody - something I've never achieved in my years working in politics. I'd lost touch in recent years, but he clearly changed the rules of political polling when it came to analyzing the Hispanic vote. His incredible intelligence and knowledge of polling led him to challenge campaigns and pollsters to not look at the Hispanic vote as a monolithic bloc, but as a prism of many different people and views. He helped elect President Obama, and will be sorely missed in the 2012 campaign.
To quote the Big Chill, "There was something about him that was too good for this world."
Andre, we love you and will miss you. You left a huge wake with your work and your friendship, and your exit leaves a huge void.