This has been a historic election already and could shape up to be more historic if that is even possible. Everyone seems to be interested in the election this year. Young, old, black, white, and yes the elusive sleeping giant... brown. Over a 1 million new Hispanics / Latinos were registered during the primary season and another 2 Million MORE is the target for the General election. This is an amazing figure and an extremely important one as you look at the implications.
I've crossposted on my site as well. www.ourhispanicvoices.com
Jump Below for more
We know what the traditional battle ground states are, but this year there are some serious new kids on the block like Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, possibly Arizona and maybe even Texas. These states all have a large Hispanic / Latino population and while Arizona and Texas may be a farther reach, they are still in reach because of the demographics of those states.
Each election cycle we hear noise of Hispanics possibly headed to the polls in staggering numbers, but every year we are disappointed just as we are with the promise of young voters. This year all trends, all polling formulas, everything you thought you knew about elections is worth poop. Here is why...
The Tennessean reports that Immigrants are registering in huge numbers and the trend isn’t localized to Nashville, TN. The Velasquez institute estimated that 1 million new voters registered for the primaries and the Southwestern Voter Registration and Education Project is hoping to add another 2 million new registered voters to rosters across the Southwest. With 3 million new voters headed to the polls in November the dynamics of a the race in in NM, CO, and especially TX can take a whole new turn.
Tennessean's Full Story Here.
Venezuelan native Carolina Michel carries and hands out voter registration forms almost everywhere she goes, determined that every eligible immigrant should cast a vote for president.
Michel registered to vote in 2000, but a deployment with the Navy and a paperwork snafu kept her from voting for president. She moved to Florida in 2004, the year four hurricanes devastated that state, preventing her from getting proof of residency in time to register.
This time, nothing is keeping the new Nashville resident from the polls Nov. 4.
"This year is going to be really special," Michel said. "I'm going to stand in that booth, I'm going to cast my vote rain or shine."
It goes on to talk about registration and numbers...
"Immigrants, certainly Latino immigrants, have a significant presence ... in an expanding list of states," said Michael Bustamante, a spokesperson for the Southwestern Voter Registration and Education Project, an organization that works to register Latino voters. "We, like every other group, have political interests, concerns and could actually have significant sway."
He said naturalized U.S. citizens are altering the voting landscape in anticipated swing states such as Ohio, where their numbers grew 12.9 percent between 2000 and 2006.
In Tennessee, where analysts predict an easy win for the Republican presidential candidate, their numbers grew from 50,056 to 69,669, or 39.2 percent, during the same period. There were about 4.45 million registered voters in Tennessee in 2006.
Now in states like TN the impact of Hispanic / Latino voters will still be small even though the group may have grown by almost 20,000 voters, but an increase in young voters, increase in African American voters and even a modest increase in Hispanics at the polls could tip states that look good for McCain on paper.
At the point it's an uphill battle for McCain. The OHV Poll of Polls from March - June puts Obama ahead 61% - 28%. The demographic will vote Democratic as it traditioanlly does. McCain is having big big trouble pulling even traditional Republican numbers and is stuck in the 20’s. It seems that nowhere is safe this year for Republicans. It should also be noted that LaRaza is helping organize voter registration for smaller groups in states nationwide. LaRaza is the largest Hispanic civil rights group in the nation and Obama was received warmly when addressing them last week while McCain drew polite applause much like at the NAACP event. The only cheers McCain could muster came whenever he mentioned Obama’s name.
Obama is our guy and this just might be the year the sleeping giant wakes the heck up and makes a difference. If this is the case, toss all those battle ground polls out the window folks because the formulas are now worth squat.