Two weeks before the election, Asian American advocacy group 80-20 endorsed Democrats after receiving promise from Dean that the Democratic Party will work to eliminate discrimination against Asian Americans in the workplace. This turned out to be a crucial factor in Webb's victory over Allen in Virginia.
My earlier diary on the endorsement by 80-20 is
here.
In three states that have significant Asian American votes (California, New Jersey, and Virginia), CNN's
exit polls show that Asian American's voted overwhelmingly for Democrats. In Virginia, Webb would have lost by over 20k votes without the Asian American votes.
State VA NJ CA
% AsAm voters 3% 3% 6%
Sen.Candidates Webb/Allen Menendez/Kean Feinstein/Mnfjoy
How AsAms voted 68/32 74/24 70/26
This may be the first election in which Asian Americans voted as a crucial bloc, and it was in our favor.