Posted on 11/07/2006 7:57:52 PM PST by My Favorite Headache
MINNEAPOLIS (Reuters) - Voters elected a black Democrat as the first Muslim in Congress on Tuesday after a race in which he advocated quick U.S. withdrawal from Iraq and made little mention of his faith.
Keith Ellison, a 43-year-old lawyer and state representative, defeated two rivals, television networks said, to succeed retiring Democrat Martin Sabo in a seat that has been held by Democrats since 1963.
Ellison, who converted to Islam as a 19-year-old college student in his native Detroit, won with the help of Muslims among a coalition of liberal, anti-war voters.
He advocates an immediate U.S. withdrawal from Iraq along with strongly liberal views. While Ellison did not often speak of his faith during the campaign, awareness of his candidacy drew interest from Muslims well beyond the district centered in Minneapolis.
A significant community of Somali immigrants in Minneapolis cast their first votes for him in the crowded September primary. Ellison also was the surprise choice of party regulars.
While Muslim-Americans make up less than 3 percent of the U.S. population and have largely been a non-factor in terms of political power, get-out-the-vote efforts in several Muslim communities could indicate they may become an emerging force.
Roughly 2 million Muslims are registered U.S. voters, and their ranks increased by tens of thousands in the weeks prior to Tuesday's mid-term elections, Muslim groups have said.
Since the September 11, 2001, attacks by Islamic militants, Muslim-Americans have become sensitized to what many feel is an erosion of their civil rights. U.S. foreign policy that targets Muslim countries also has generated a sense of urgency, experts said.
"(Americans) treat us differently after September 11. My own father was attacked," said Ellison supporter Khadra Darsame, a 1995 immigrant from Somalia. "Ellison said everybody matters equally and he told us what he would do ... he will do the right thing."
Born into a Roman Catholic family in Detroit, Ellison said his values were shaped by both faiths, along with his grandfather's civil rights work in the Deep South.
Opponents focused on Ellison's sloppy handling of his taxes and a slew of unpaid parking tickets, along with his one-time affiliation with the Nation of Islam, whose leader, Louis Farrakhan, has been criticized for making anti-Semitic remarks. Ellison subsequently said he worked with the group largely to promote the 1995 Million Man March.
The surrender begins....
Oh my. What a night.
SO IT BEGINS !!!!!!!!
Locked and Loaded!!
As I said on a previous thread...I feels as if I am watching 9-11 again on my TV. Watching America be attacked from within and I am helpless watching.
America...what have you done?
Not a good sign at all
Watch "Obsession"!!!!!!
THAT'S friggin crazy!
His family must be so proud of him....
What is it with blacks converting to the religion of those who first made them slaves ,and continue to enslave and kill in Africa?
You had a better attention grabbing title. You win.
Since the September 11, 2001, attacks by Islamic militants, Muslim-Americans have become sensitized to what many feel is an erosion of their civil rights. U.S. foreign policy that targets Muslim countries also has generated a sense of urgency, experts said.
F them
The House Dems will fall all over themselves to make Islam welcome in the House. Watch for alterations to the opening prayer.
WE ARE SO SCREWED UP AS A NATION IT ISN'T EVEN FUNNY!
Over or even he introduce the first sharia law leglietatio
But, if we have an immediate w/d from Iraq, like this clown wants, the terrorists will come here, like Bush said & we'll all be dead anyway.
Congratulations to the burqa-wearing Minnesotans! Good job!
Minnesota might yet learn from its mistakes. Unfortunately, they have 6 years to do just that.
what a gutless country
Oh, you are right, the enemy is within, Bush knows it, we know it.
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