Question: Is there an element of racism in the Asian and Hispanic Support for Hillary

[walto]

I haven't heard anybody suggest this in the news, but I don't know how else to explain it.

[Squaredancecalling Steve]

At least some of the Hispanic vote came from predominately Hispanic labor unions.

[Brian Olewnick]

I've heard it brought up a couple of times, though not at length. I do think it could, unfortunately, be a large factor.

[walto]

Couric noted time and again last night that Clinton was getting, like, 90% of the Hispanic vote all over the country. And the Asians in California also voted as an anti-Obama block. But there was never any suggestion as to why this should be. Seemed like a dirty secret.

[Gary Sisco]

My biggest disappointment so far has been the raising of race issues where before I was feeling very good about a black candidate being accepted as a real candidate, not a black candidate, to be taken seriously.

And The Clinstones bear some measure of responsibility for it. Like I've said for many years, all ambition, no principles.

[Scott Dolan]

I've heard it brought up a couple of times, though not at length. I do think it could, unfortunately, be a large factor.

I agree. With the Asian community in particular.

[Squaredancecalling Steve]

LATINOS FOR CLINTON, BLACKS FOR OBAMA
Democrats' Votes Display a Racial Divide

By Amy Goldstein
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, February 6, 2008; Page A21

Yesterday's primary voting laid bare a profound racial and ethnic divide among Democratic voters, with African Americans overwhelmingly preferring Sen. Barack Obama and Latinos largely favoring Sen. Hillary Clinton.


The results of preliminary exit polls in nine key states indicate that Obama attracted the support of two-thirds to nine-tenths of black voters, except in Clinton's home state of New York. That pattern suggests that the first-term Illinois senator's strong appeal among African Americans -- first on display in the South Carolina primary last month -- is more widespread. It also means that Clinton is not the automatic heir to the wide popularity her husband enjoyed among black voters as president.

Yesterday's contests, however, featured several states, including California, with large Hispanic populations, and they selected Clinton by smaller but consistent margins.

The divergent choices by minority voters reflect broad issues of loyalty and identity, observers said, rather than specific differences in the candidates' stances on issues. "There is so little distance between the policies, it comes down to personality, style and name recognition," said Arturo Vargas, executive director of the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials, based in Los Angeles.

"No one has said, 'This is the black Democratic agenda, the Latino Democratic agenda,' " Vargas said. "This is just, who do people know, who do they identify with, who are they comfortable with?"

Obama's popularity among black voters surfaced less than two weeks ago in South Carolina, where exit polls indicated that he had defeated Clinton by a margin of 4 to 1 among that segment of the electorate. "The South Carolina primary was decisive," said David A. Bositis, senior political analyst at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies. "It sealed the deal for African Americans on Obama."

At the time of that primary, some political analysts contended that Clinton's support among African Americans had eroded sharply after former president Bill Clinton derided Obama's claim of long-held opposition to the Iraq war as a "fairy tale," and after Sen. Clinton suggested that the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s vision "began to be realized" only after President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act in 1964.

Last night, however, analysts attributed Obama's wide margins among black voters to his own candidacy. "There is a sense of pride in who he is," said Marc Morial, president of the National Urban League. "His message of transformation and change is resonating."

Obama also is benefiting from a longstanding pattern in which "African American voters . . . tend to coalesce in big elections," Morial said. "It's the pursuit of a collective agenda."

Given that Obama spent comparatively scant time campaigning in Western states with large Latino populations, Bositis said it was notable that the senator picked up as much Hispanic support as he did, drawing more than one-third of Latinos in Arizona and California. "In his campaign, that is really good," he said.

Still, except in Obama's home state of Illinois, Clinton was the clear favorite among Hispanics, many of whom have felt an allegiance to the Clintons since her husband was in the White House.

"There is a real affection for the Clinton administration and a real familiarity with Senator Clinton," said Cecilia Muñoz, senior vice president for policy at the National Council of La Raza. In addition, she said, Clinton "got support of the big figures in the Latino political establishment quite early," some of whom worked for her husband.

The legacy of Bill Clinton's administration was evident in yesterday's exit polls from California, where Clinton beat Obama among Hispanics by 2 to 1. "There is a lot of name support," Vargas said.

Analysts said yesterday's racial and ethnic divisions do not necessarily predict the strength of Democratic support among minorities in the general election.

If Obama were to win the Democratic nomination, Muñoz said, there is little evidence to suggest that Latinos would be reluctant to vote for a black candidate in November. Instead, the extent of their support may hinge more on who becomes the Republican nominee.

"A McCain candidacy is going to determine whether there is a horse race," she said.

[Hudson Boy]

I'd guess that an Asian presidential candidate wouldn't fare very well with minority voters, and they probably know that.

[groover]

I don't think it's necessarily racism. It might just be that Hillary's positions on the issues are more in line with most of the Hispanic and Asian communities interests than Obama's. And they also don't like blacks.

[walto]

The only "issue" that I can think of that might explain anything is the drivers'- licenses-for-undocumented-aliens thing, but I don't see how that could explain more than, at most, 5 points.

[Gerardo A]

I don't know much about it first-hand to give an opinion, but I think Walto's question would be better formulated like this: Is there an element of racial tension among the minorities in the Hispanic and Asian support of Hillary?

[walto]

I accept your amendment, Gerardo. But....is there?

[Gary Sisco]

Obama should take my advice and sound out Richardson as a running partner.

I think there's still as much of the go-with-someone-who's-perceived-as-being-a-winner as there is outright racism, especially given the repubs' riding the anti-immigration wagon so hard in recent years, at least in the Latino communities, who bear the brunt of the know-nothingism in practice.

The Asian factor is very complex because so multiethnic-nationality a population. Also a religiously complex population. I think maybe too complex to generalize about. It's far from a uniform population and has its own traditional rivalries and animosities.

I'm disappointed about this rearing of America's (to me) most ugly side.

[groover]

I think there is an element of racial tension, but if Obama were campaigning as a candidate who favored the interests of the black community over all others, he wouldn't be getting many votes from whites, either. Other than Cubans, Hispanics tend to vote Democratic, so they'll probably support whomever wins the Dem. nom. in the general election.

As Gary points out, Asians are an even more heterogenous group, so it's hard to predict. Like Cubans, those who came here as refugees from Communist governments probably favor Republicans.

[groover]

All minority women have another good reason to prefer Hillary, don't they? Sexism!

[Gary Sisco]

I've been cracking up over that one.

She should have "Stand By Your Man" as her campaign theme song.

What's feminist about her campaign, I can't say.

[hornplayer]

I was interested in how Obama won in Idaho, Colorado, Utah. Idaho for Obama. That really made me smile. It’s beautiful up in Coeur de Laine but also a bastion of... I’ll call them (secessionists?).

I also thought that was interesting.... and North Dakota?

During the many years I taught in the inner city, I observed an interesting tango between the Hispanic and Black students.... I still remember one time a Puerto Rican student whose complexion was about the color of Hank Aaron's look me straight in the eye and tell me he was white.

I think some of that comes to bear in the preference for Hillary, as well as the Hispanic community's "love affair" with Bill. I do think most will support which ever candidate the Democrats field, in the end.

[Hot Ptah]

Obama won the Kansas caucuses with something like 73 per cent of the caucus votes.

Obama seemed to do his very best in states with a very small black population, and which have a large percentage of rural white people.

Meanwhile Hillary takes New York, California, New Jersey, Massachusetts.

So Hillary is duplicating Al Gore's successes in 2000, while Obama is grabbing the states that George W. Bush won in 2000. Why is that?

[clarke68]

I heard a piece on NPR the other day about the Latino support for Clinton. They interviewed one Hispanic kid who said something to effect of: "I don't want to say America is racist, and I know Hillary is a woman, but I just don't think a black guy has as much chance of getting elected."

Then, in last week's Time (the one with the "youth vote" article on the cover) they quoted a white girl from Cal Berkeley saying (something to the effect of) "I'm for any democrat but Hillary, just because I don't think a woman has much chance or getting elected in this country."

So, is that racism (or sexism), or just picking the candidate that sucks the least?

[Tom Storer]

Obama won the Kansas caucuses with something like 73 per cent of the caucus votes.

Obama seemed to do his very best in states with a very small black population, and which have a large percentage of rural white people.

Meanwhile Hillary takes New York, California, New Jersey, Massachusetts.

So Hillary is duplicating Al Gore's successes in 2000, while Obama is grabbing the states that George W. Bush won in 2000. Why is that?

The Electoral Vote Predictor has this to say:

"Obama did especially well in Idaho, Kansas, and Alaska. Whut? Yes, Idaho, Kansas, and Alaska. One of the big questions of this election has been the role of identity politics. Would white people vote for a black man, for example. Well, Idaho, Kansas, and Alaska are full of white people. In fact, they have very few minorities of any kind (except the Eskimos in Alaska). What gives?

The secret is in the asterisk. Notice the little asterisks in Obama's top five states. An asterisk today denotes a caucus state. Obama did extremely well in caucus states and Clinton did very badly in them. How come? Turnout in caucus states is always low, usually about 10-20% of the electorate. Only highly motivated people bother to show up, especially the Democratic caucuses, which go on for hours and people have to publicly defend their choice. Obama has a smaller, but extremely active and loyal following, especially among younger voters. These are precisely the people who can swing a caucus state by showing up in droves and working hard to convince the other voters that Obama would make a great President. In primary states, the media, especially TV ads have a much bigger influence. Now it becomes clear why Obama won North Dakota but Clinton won Oklahoma, a demographically similar state in the same part of the country: North Dakota had a caucus and Oklahoma had a primary.

"[...] This is likely to be a good week for Obama, as there are caucuses this weekend in Washington state, Nebraska and Maine and as we have seen, Obama has done very well in caucuses, even in conservative states (and Washington and Maine are anything but conservative). There is also a primary in Louisiana, which has a large black population. It is likely that Obama will win all four contests, giving him momentum going into the D.C caucus and Maryland and Virginia primaries next Tuesday. A week from today, he might lead in delegates."

[cookie]

Is it me or is not a black-guy carrying Alabama and Georgia kinda historically significant?

[Gentle Giant]

I saw a news report with Latino leaders saying essentially that Bill Clinton had been bery bery good to them, and they were being loyal to the brand.

what I think is good is that Latinos now outnumber African Americans in this country, and with candidates that are strong draws to these populations, I think we'll see very high minority participation across the board, as each group tries to bolster its candidate.

Personally, I hope Hill and Barry continue to go neck and neck up to the convention. The Dems need a candidate who is heavily challenged and vetted to go up against the Republican McNominee.