Q&A With Alex Castellanos

Alex Castellanos is a Cuban-American advisor and senior media strategist in Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign. Castellanos talks about the Nevada results, looks ahead to Florida and takes a few gentle jabs at Rudy Giuliani.

In Nevada, the exit polls indicated Romney had a very high percentage of support among Latino voters. How much of that is the result of the campaign’s Hispanic media outreach? How much of that is just Romney the candidate?

The governor’s had a very strong media outreach to Hispanic voters all across the country and a website in Spanish, but I’d say most of it is just the governor’s message. Mitt Romney is the candidate of optimism and opportunity in this race and I think that he makes you feel that there isn’t any challenge that America and Americans can’t meet. And I think that for the Hispanic community, so many of us who have come here for that opportunity, that’s what we want to see in a candidate.

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GOP Candidates on Cuba

From our Florida correspondent, Kirk Nielsen:

With the four main contenders for the Republican presidential nomination all vying for Florida’s crucial Cuban-American voters, each is looking for a way to distinguish himself. All of them have bashed Fidel Castro and Cuba’s dictatorial system. But even Democratic candidates have done that.

Rudy Giuliani has distinguished himself by supporting calls for federal indictments of Fidel and Raul Castro for the shoot-down of two Brothers to the Rescue planes in 1996 as they flew over international waters, resulting in the deaths of four anti-Castro activists. This would represent a departure from Bush Administration’s stance. Giuliani has logged more appearances in Miami’s Cuban-American sectors than any of rivals; earlier this month he made stops in Hialeah and Little Havana while his rivals concentrated on earlier primary states.

Beyond the indictment, Giuliani’s Cuba policy platform relies on his claims to having a long-standing loyalty to the anti-Castro cause. He repeatedly cites the same two examples. As New York mayor in 1995 he excluded Fidel Castro from the guest list of a dinner for international dignitaries attending 50th anniversary celebrations for the United Nations. And, a year later he supported changing the name of a street in front of UN headquarters to Brothers to the Rescue Avenue. Giuliani spent last week trying to rally non-Hispanic backers in central and northern Florida. He heads south again this week. Read more …

Clinton Clobbers Obama Among Latino Voters in Nevada

A whopping 64 percent of Nevada Latino Democrat caucus-goers supported Hillary Clinton, according to a Cable News Network entrance poll. Barack Obama mustered only 24 percent of Latino voters despite having the backing of the local 60,000-member Culinary Workers Union (CWU), which is 45 percent Hispanic. The Illinois senator’s poor showing means his campaign will have to redouble its Hispanic voter outreach efforts ahead of February 5th when primaries will be held in such heavily Latino states such as Arizona, California, Colorado and New York.

The Nevada Democratic Caucus was the very first electoral battleground where Latino voters mattered. And the first reality check of several nationwide polls that late last year demonstrated overwhelming national support among Latino Democrats for Clinton over Obama.

The Illinois senator’s campaign did not rely solely on the CWU endorsement for its Hispanic voter outreach efforts. Obama went canvassing in heavily Latino neighborhoods. He chanted ¡Sí se puede! and brought in Latino elected officials such as California State Senator Gil Cedillo and Illinois congressman Luis Gutiérrez. The latter recorded a Spanish-language video explaining the Nevada caucus process. And the Obama campaign advertised on Spanish-language radio and television while also ensuring a presence on local Spanish-language newscasts. In many ways, it was a by-the-book Hispanic political marketing effort emphasizing a positive and even uplifting message about Obama.

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Q&A With Eliseo Medina

Eliseo Medina, executive vice president of the 1.9 million member Service Employees International Union (SEIU), spoke to CandidatoUSA about the dramatic backlog in processing a little over one million naturalization applications. The topic was the subject of a Congressional subcommittee hearing this morning and of executive action earlier this month. The federal Office of Personnel Management recently issued expedited authority to the United States Citizenship Immigration Services Agency to re-hire 700 agency retirees to process the backlog of applications.

The SEIU participates in a coalition working to boost the number of Latino citizens and increase Latino voter turnout.

Are you frustrated by these delays?

Yes. It is absolutely shocking and unforgivable that we have an agency increase their fees claiming they were going to provide better service and then we wind up with worse service. It is totally unforgivable that all this kind of bureaucratic bungling could end up denying people the right to vote.

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Spanish-language Media Watch

Electoral coverage in the Spanish-language press has picked up since the presidential race left Iowa and New Hampshire and headed for Nevada and Florida.

Today, Los Angeles-based La Opinión reports on the increasing number of California Latino voters who are registering as independents. New York’s El Diario/La Prensa reports on Guiliani’s declining poll numbers in New Jersey.

Opinions on the op ed pages of the major Spanish-language dailies are often forcefully expressed. For instance, former Miami Mayor Xavier L. Suárez wrote a piece (”Why McCain?”) for Tuesday’s edition of the local Diario Las Américas that is practically a paean to the Arizona senator. Suárez wrote “If given the opportunity to spend a few hours with McArthur, either of the Roosevelts, Washington, Jefferson or Benjamin Franklin - I’d stick with McCain without blinking.”

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Latino Voter Profile

This is the first in an occasional series of profiles of individual Latino voters. The profiles are meant to provide a glimpse into the life and politics of a given individual. None of these individuals are meant to be stand-ins for a specific class of Latino voters.

The format is “as told to” whereby the entire article consists of quotations from the person interviewed. This ensures the subject’s voice comes through loud and clear.

Today’s Latino Voter Profile is Javier Barajas, owner of the Lindo Michoacán restaurant in Las Vegas where last week Hillary Clinton held a campaign event. Most of the interview was conducted in Spanish.

As told to CandidatoUSA editor Luis Clemens by Javier Barajas:

“I must have been about 16 when I arrived in Las Vegas in 1976. I was traveling with an uncle of mine and we were planning on going to Indio, California, to pick grapes. We were traveling as illegals. The migra grabbed my uncle. I managed to get away. I got on a bus that was supposed to go to Los Angeles where a cousin was waiting for me.

“I don’t know how, maybe because I was so tired. But the only thing I remember about the bus ride is that I woke up in Las Vegas. The next day I started working at Terrible Herb’s Car Wash. I worked there for three years. I worked mornings at Terrible Herb and nights at Viva Zapata restaurant. I worked some fifteen, sixteen hours a day.

“I progressed from dishwasher to busboy. I eventually became the chef at the restaurant.

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