Blue States, Latino Voters

[LiberalFighter]

The Nation *Dec 18 2003 Excerpts from 4 key paragraphs.

§ New Mexico was a blue state surrounded by red in 2000. New Mexico now has aggressive Latino Democratic Governor Bill Richardson, who is mobilizing hard to increase the power of the Latino vote nationwide.

§ Nevada, where Al Gore fell short of the White House by less than 22,000 votes out of more than 600,000 cast, essentially doubled its Latino share of the population in only ten years. And since then, George W. Bush has signed off on the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump.

§ Arizona, which Bill Clinton won in 1996 and Al Gore lost by less than 100,000 votes (out of more than 1.5 million cast), now has a woman Democratic governor.

§ Colorado is a state that Bill Clinton carried in 1992 and lost by only 20,000 votes in 1996. Although Bush won the state by 9 percentage points in 2000, his winning percentage was only 51 percent, and his environmental sins combined with a growing Latino vote could make this state much closer next time.

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. But they keep telling me that I should like the

poser, and I have missed the memo (all them polls)that I should be voting for Shrub.

(Look at the AP poll)

[revcarol]

2. NM has always been majority-Hispanic.

And they have traditionally been Democratic voters. But the white folks coming in have more money, and tend to be Republican. Soooo, a lot more grass roots organization and getting out the vote is necessary for Democrats to win.Plus convincing Hispanics to contribute to a campaign. They tend to think their vote is enough. That might have been true some years ago, but grass-roots and get out the vote must be supplemented by some money.

[leyton]

3. If Dean

wins the nomination, I think he should focus not so much on winning over southern states as winning over these states in the SW.