Posted on 11/26/2014 5:37:21 PM PST by SeekAndFind
Rep. Jim Costa was thought to be headed for a safe race. The California Democrat represents a district that supported President Obama by a 19-point margin in 2012—and while Costa had had scares in previous midterms, 2014 appeared to be in the bag. And indeed, Costa did keep his seat, but only after squeaking through one of the tightest races of the entire cycle, a vote count so close that it took 15 days for him to be officially declared the victor over Republican candidate and dairy farmer Johnny Tacherra.
So what happened? Costa nearly fell victim to a radically different midterm electorate. The total number of ballots cast in the race dropped 40 percent from 2012 to 2014, according to data compiled by Dave Wasserman of The Cook Political Report.
Costa's story is a microcosm of the turnout problem that plagued Democrats up and down the 2014 ticket, but it's particularly troubling for the party because Costa's district is among the most heavily Latino in the country.
Turnout also plunged in other heavily Latino districts, such as the one where Democratic Rep. Jerry McNerney narrowly won reelection in a California district Obama won by 18 points in 2012. There, turnout was down nearly 47 percent between 2012 and 2014. In the state's 31st District, Rep.-elect Pete Aguilar, who was the heavy favorite in his race, won by just over 3,000 votes after a 52 percent drop-off of voters from 2012 to 2014. And Rep. Lois Capps, whose district Obama won by 11 points in 2012, won by fewer than 8,000 votes after a 32 percent drop-off.
(Excerpt) Read more at nationaljournal.com ...
I agree, I lived for two years in El Paso and learned Spanish. Most Latino immigrants I met (legal or illegal) were naturally “conservative”. They (and their kids) have strong family values (including respect for the “ahem” male head of household), work hard are entrepreneurs and are religious. The only catch is some come from socialist countries or align with democrats. IMO, Obama bringing Latinos will backfire in the long run as their natural/cultural values are more “traditional”. There are few vocalist group like La Raza (which want to replace one European language “English” with ... ironically... another European language “Spanish”). But they don’t represent most of the Latinos I met.
You're right... insulting.
Latinos are religious and like to work, there’s not much to attract them to the Democrats.
I live in a small town with a large Hispanic population. Rural California. True, most of the people you see picking fruit and making beds are Hispanics as Preezy Obola so eloquently pointed out, but far more are on welfare, food stamps, WIC, the whole works. They got their Obamaphones and Section 8 housing and drive without insurance even though it's illegal to do so.
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but as Comrade Walter used to say, that's the way it is.
Salient point. They desparage the “euros” yet they embrace the language and culture of the Spanish as their heritage. Some of my students were reluctant to accept that the Spanish are “euros”. It was news to them.
Watch the Latnos vote Cruz into office and make the Democrats forever kick themselves in the a$$ for bringing them across the borders en masse. The leftists aren’t too good with the common sense or foreseeing consequences thing...
“I’m going out on a limb here and thinking that Latinos have no interest in either party. “
Bullseye.
“Watch the Latinos vote Cruz into office”
Not gonna happen.
Cruz is Cuban, not Mexican. Latinos put more weight in where someone is from than their last name.
In California we even see gunfights over which Mexican state is better. Pick Oaxaca over Sinaloa, you better be armed. And they all hate the Guatemalans.
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