Latinos for Obama Minnesota just had a fantastic event on Thursday at the Landmark Center in St. Paul, MN. About three hundred Latinos, some Native Americans, and a few Anglos like me got to see Governor Bill Richardson and raise money for nationwide Latino outreach for the Obama campaign. The fundraising goal was $150,000.00 and we exceeded that. This is part of a nationwide effort to raise 10 million dollars in the Latino community for Obama. They are at about six and a half now.
A more inclusive local goal was to achieve a new level of organizational capacity among Latinos interested in being more effective in organizing the community. Young professional Latinos brought considerable skills to the table and put the whole thing together. There is no doubt a milestone has been passed here. The Latino community can claim a spot at the table of Minnesota politics, and do so as first class members of the DFL family. Es hora. More below the fold . . .
What was new was both the scale of the event, the number of Latino businesses taking part in the logistics, and the nice big checks coming from Latinos and First Americans. It has been known that folks who could pull this sort of successful event off are out there, but no one had brought them together effectively before. I may be biased, but my wife was one of the Latinos who worked so hard to make this happen. Her name is Patricia Torres Ray and she is the first Latina to serve in the Minnesota Senate. She has spent most of every day all summer working on this event and on the Obama campaign more broadly. I'm a house husband so my job was mainly to have the house "company clean" once a week when the hardworking planning crew would meet at our house. Luz Frias, the Director of External Affairs in St. Paul Mayor Coleman's office was a steady hand that knows how to get past talking to action. Javier Morillo, President of SEIU Local 26, was another indispensable member of the planning team, as were Monica Dooner and Miguel Lindgren. Jamie Edwards of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe was one of the First American organizers, and the First American community really stepped up with some big contributions!
I've got pictures, and will insert them if I can figure out how. Let's see.
This is a wide shot of the event.
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Here are Javier Morillo and Luz Frias at the podium.
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Some of the organizers with the Governor.
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Here is Luz Frias with the Governor
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And here is my favorite Minnesota Senator Patricia Torres Ray with Bill Richardson.
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Now, going forward we know how to do this scale event, and do most of it ourselves, which permits more of the income to be used for maximum advantage, moving troops on the ground. Little by little we will learn and bring more and more to the table. The Latino community in Minnesota is small compared to some states, but it's growing and can be pivotal in close elections. We are building lists of donors and activists and we believe that here in Minnesota Latino political impact will grow with each election cycle.
Now we can only hope the Obama campaign will spend some of the money we raised for them on Spanish language media and Latino GOTV here in Minnesota!