Maurice Ferre, former mayor of Miami has a good article in today's Miami Herald on the importance of the Puerto Rican vote in Florida.
(Of course there are many Puerto Ricans in other states, especially New York, but those other states tend to be overwhelmingly blue).
Ferre says there are 1.3 million Hispanic voters in Florida, about 600,000 of whom are now Cuban. But 300,000 of the Hispanic voters in Forida are now Puerto Ricans who can vote in November (since they are US citizens by birth) and they are a pivotal voting block.
In 2000, then-Gov. George W. Bush carried Florida by 537 votes when the U.S. Supreme Court did not allow continuing the recount. Carl Rove, the Republican strategist, did not miss the message of the Florida vote. In 2002, Gov. Jeb Bush received 58 percent of the Puerto Rican vote. In 2004 President Bush received 45 percent of the Puerto Rican vote in Florida.
By Nov. 4, there will be almost 1.3 million registered Hispanic voters in Florida, with about 300,000 of them Puerto Rican. Of more than 600,000 Cuban-American voters, half are either U.S. born or new voters. Obama's newfound Hispanic attention was in view at a May 22 rally in Kissimmee and at the May 23 gathering of the Cuban American National Foundation in Miami.
This may be why O has promised to visit Puerto Rico again after June 1. Not because of Puerto Rico itself,which of course doesn't vote in November and has tended to be Republican, but to influence Puerto Ricans in Florida who seem as a demographic to rapidly be moving Democratic.
full story:
http://www.miamiherald.com/...