Rudy Giuliani’s decision to spend Thursday, the day of the Iowa caucuses, in Florida has drawn plenty of analysis. Less discussed, though, is where exactly the former mayor will be in Florida and why. Namely, he will be in the heavily Cuban-American city of Hialeah attending an event at Milander Auditorium. And as explained here, Cuban-Americans make up between eight and ten percent of the likely Florida Republican primary vote.
Early Sunday evening, CandidatoUSA interviewed Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa who was en route from Marshalltown, Iowa to Ames, Iowa. The mayor was in Iowa campaigning on behalf of Senator Hillary Clinton’s presidential candidacy and speaking at events that are attended by as little as “ten, fifteen, twenty” people to as many as “sixty or more”, which is less than the capacity on an LAUSD school bus. That doesn’t sound like a lot of people and objectively it ain’t. But, for Iowa a turnout of a dozen people at an event by a campaign surrogate is considered respectable. Below is an edited and partial transcript of the interview:
What do folks ask you after you make your opening remarks at these events?
I always begin with a question that I ask rhetorically. What is the mayor of Los Angeles doing here a few days before New Year’s in the dead of winter in Iowa. And I say that I am here because this is the most important election in my lifetime. An election that goes to the heart of what really matters to most Americans and that is extricating ourselves from war, investing and restoring strength in the middle class, providing universal health care for uninsured Americans and investing in the fight against global warming.
And what I also say is that this the deepest and most talented Democratic field since I’ve been voting in 1971, my first Presidential election in 1972. I can’t remember a field this deep at least since 1968 when Bobby Kennedy and McCarthy were running. Although this is a deep, talented field I believe that Senator Hillary Clinton has the strength and experience that we need right now in the country to take on the tough challenges that we face as a nation.
You mentioned Muscatine and Marshalltown, a lot of these places have seen a sharp influx of Latino immigrants in the last 15 years. Do Latino voters attend these events? Do they ask about immigration?
Yes, there have been a number of Latinos. Particularly, Americans of Mexican descent and others who have come. I’ve met with a broad section of Iowans.
Does the topic of immigration come up?
Yes, the issue of immigration has come up in almost every event that I’ve been to here in Iowa. That is true of Nevada, as well, when I’ve campaigned for Senator Clinton. It is a very significant issue and a challenge that we face in the United States. Senator Clinton has the wherewithal to help, craft and enact a fair and just immigration reform plan that is founded on the principles that this great country was built on. The principles of embracing new Americans but also fortifying our borders, collaborating with our neighbors, providing employer sanctions but very importantly also providing a pathway to citizenship to those immigrants that play by the rules, pay their taxes and want to be part of the American dream.
You mentioned your time in Nevada. Why not spend that time trying to drum up votes for Clinton in California?
First of all, make no mistake, I spend the vast majority of my time in Los Angeles and in California. I can tell you that wherever I go, I talk about Hillary Clinton’s strength, her experience, her leadership and her candidacy. The eyes of the nation, of the world are focused on Iowa right now. When called upon, I’ve answered. By the way, I am in the thick fog on my way to Ames because as I said this is the most imp election in my lifetime.
What will you be doing on behalf of the campaign ahead of the February 5 primary in California?
Well, I’ll return to LA tomorrow afternoon. I’ll spend the first of January there. I’ll announce historic new crime figures in Los Angeles, that we’ve reduced crime to historic levels. And then I’ll return to Iowa for the election. Go back to Los Angeles. I’ll be in Nevada a good part of my time until those elections. And then back to Los Angeles and wherever else in California or anywhere else that the campaign needs me.
Why not start the electoral process in a big, racially and ethnically diverse state like California?
That’s a great question, a question that many Californians have asked for a long time. But, the fact of the matter is that at this time, these elections at this time begin in Iowa, go to New Hampshire and South Carolina, Nevada and then on February 5 to California. Given the rules of the game as they exist today, I am here in Iowa.
I think this election is too important to stay on the sidelines, to not get involved. I have said too many that I am here today because there is a Civil Rights Act and a Voting Rights Act that opened up the country to me. America has been good to me. And the American Dream is a dream that needs to be a dream that everyone of us can aspire to.
I am excited to be here in the dead of fog as we’re driving down this lonely highway in an effort to really get out the vote in support of change, of a new direction for America and of the candidacy of Hillary Clinton.
Immigration has been a heated topic of interest among Republican voters in the lead-up to this week’s Iowa caucus. Dozens of towns statewide have been re-shaped by a dramatic influx of Hispanic immigrants over the last fifteen years, many of them drawn by work opportunities in the agricultural sector.
Columbus Junction is as good an example as any of this phenomenon. The re-opening of a local meatpacking plant in 1986 brought with it a steady increase in the local Latino population. In 1990, the Census Bureau reported 14.5 percent of the local population was Hispanic. By 2000, the figure had risen to 39 percent. Mayor Dan Wilson estimates that figure has now risen to roughly half of the town’s population of some 2500 people.
Much of the national media coverage has focused on those Iowans who are angry about the changes wrought by immigration. That isn’t true of Mayor Wilson.
Read more …
Plenty of Swing, Not Enough Power
Cover Latino politics long enough and you hear the phrase “sleeping giant” or an equivalent over and over again.
On August 29, 1982 in an article headlined “Hispanic-Voting Study Finds ‘Sleeping Giant’” the New York Times reported, “A new study finds immense unused voting power in the growing Latino population.”
Hispanic political clout has been just around the corner ever since.
This item is from our Daily Update, which you can read in its entirety here.
Ad Watch
The New York Times today published an analysis of terms that appear frequently in campaign advertising by the various presidential candidates. A review of that data shows frequent mentions of immigration and related terms by four Republican candidates. In contrast, Congressman Ron Paul, Senator John McCain and all of the Democratic candidates made few, if any, mentions of the topic in their advertising, according to the same data.
Giuliani
Total number of ads - 2,676
Total mentions of the word “English” - 1,368
Total mentions of the word “Immigration” - 912
Huckabee
Total number of ads - 1985
Total mentions of the word “Amnesty” - 426
Total mentions of the word “Border - 1065
Romney
Total number of ads - 24, 189
Total mentions of the word “Borders” - 3,654
Total mentions of the word “Illegal” - 12,169
Total mentions of the word “Immigration” - 11,871
Thompson
Total Ads - 1,964
Total mentions of the word “Amnesty” - 636
Total mentions of the word “Borders” - 1,068
Total mentions of the word “Illegal” - 636
Total mentions of the word “Immigration” - 636
Immigration: The New Gay Marriage/Willie Horton/Welfare Queen
By Mickey Ibarra
Each presidential election cycle, an issue seems to come along that turns reasoned politicians into chest thumping demagogues. In 2004, the issue was gay marriage; this election season that issue will undoubtedly be immigration reform. Last June, a bipartisan compromise bill was crafted that focused on enhanced enforcement and earned legalization. A reasonable approach that would have quieted a growing national debate, the legislation fell victim to presidential politics as the Republican candidates trumped each other in their zest to crack down on illegal immigrants.
