Posted on 03/17/2002 6:00:26 AM PST by Love America or move to ......
Hispanics nationwide have a stake in the Texas governor's race. Laredo businessman and millionaire Tony Sanchez won the Democratic primary by about a 2 to 1 margin. If Sanchez unseats Republican Gov. Rick Perry in November, he will become the first Hispanic governor of Texas. Texas, following California, also would become the second state in which Hispanic voters put an end to Republican dominance.
In California, Hispanic voters were something of a sleeping giant. That all changed with the administration of Pete Wilson, the Republican governor who stupidly decided to exploit the state's xenophobes and bash immigrants. Wilson blamed immigrants - legal and illegal - for just about everything from lousy schools and health care to the failure to achieve world peace.
Faced with such abuse, the sleeping giant woke up. Voter registration drives became a favorite pastime in Hispanic neighborhoods. In 1998, Gray Davis became the first Democratic governor of California in 16 years.
He trounced his Republican opponent Dan Lungren, drawing 58 percent of the vote; Lungren got 38 percent. Davis captured just about every voter block except for white men, Republicans and Protestants. He carried Hispanics by a great margin.The Texas primary race, similarly, drew a heavy Hispanic vote in the southern part of the state. Observers said more Hispanics were moved to vote. While the major Democratic candidates both were Hispanic, Sanchez said his opponent, Dan Morales, was embarrassed to be Hispanic.
Sanchez reportedly spent about $18 million to defeat Morales. This is a record for a Texas primary, and it reflects an odd element to the general election. Sanchez is new to politics and wealthy. The family fortune is said to be $600 million. He reportedly threw as much as $13 million of his own money into his campaign kitty.
Hispanics are the fastest growing minority in the country. And as they increase, so too does their political influence. This is the most important political trend since Richard Nixon launched his successful southern strategy in which he urged conservative southern Democrats to switch to the Republican Party. It's a trend that could affect Illinois, New Jersey and some southern states where there is growing Hispanic influence.
Since there wasn't a conservative Republican on the DEMOCRAT PRIMARY ballot, its hard to extrapolate that vote out into proof that Hispanics are uniform leftists. You seem to forget the Houston's mayors race.
Hispanics are the swing vote for the next 100 years in the Southwest and West. Without a plan to reach out and connect on the multitude of common beliefs and issues, that bigot label will stick and the dems will control this portion of the country, and maybe the whole enchilada.
If you've watched Sanchez's campaign against Morales, you'd have a hard time finding a bigger bigot than Sanchez ---but he seems to be quite popular for it.
Let's do all we can to save us from the imposition of a Hillary taco.
You are not the only one who senses the danger. I would make Sanchez the favorite right now. Perry has shown no signs that he understands the quandary he is in. He has not reached out to the grassroots conservatives that he offended by signing the Hate Crimes bill last year.
He endorsed a Supreme Court nominee that was beaten in the primary. His appointment to the SBOE Chair, Grace Shore, was beaten like a drum by a Christian conservative candidate inexperienced in politics. Though I was happy to see these things happen personally, it bodes ill for Perry.
No I don't forget that. The only reason the Republican won 2/3 of the Hispanic votes was because he was Hispanic. Do you HONESTLY believe if the conservative had been white or black and the liberal in that race was hispanic that the results would have been the same?
Yes, and that is right after the Klan takes over the South. Anyone who believes this stuff probably believes in UFO's. Do you actually read what you write?
I certainly hope I'm wrong ---and I could be because I live in one of the Hispanic counties so I admit I don't see the rest of Texas much but I don't see how Perry will win.
Why not reach out to Blacks, Whites, and Asians, who all consistently oppose illegal immigration by 2 to 1? Throw in the fairly even split in the Latino vote, quash the Buchananite moratorium calls, and we can put the "bigot" label to rest...
If we can get the RINOs to knock off the intra-party name calling.
They've been killing us since the Kemp/Bennett backstabbing on #187 in '94.
First of all what offer?
Second your hysterical rants painting all Hispanics with the same brush get tiresome, especially when Sanchez outspent Morales 18 to 1 and won only 2 to 1 in a very low turnout demo primary.
Oh well I guess it easy for you to show your "cajones" behind a keyboard to give red meat to your hysterical following.
And when those welfare lines in West Virginia are hispanic, it'll be too late, won't it?
LTS
He'd better get to work on his Spanish and maybe consider changing his last name to something a little more ethnic. One reason Sanchez creamed Morales in the debates was that Morales didn't speak perfect Spanish and Sanchez was able to paint him as a Hispanic ashamed of his background. He'll whip Perry on that issue.
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