“For Democrats, the most frightening candidate of 2010 may well be Susana Martinez, the Republican nominee for governor in New Mexico. If she wins in November, she will be the first female Hispanic governor in U.S. history—and an instant national GOP spokeswoman,” according to Slate.
The Salon article goes on to mention that beyond Martinez there is also “Marco Rubio, the Tea Party favorite who drove Gov. Charlie Crist out of the Republican primary for U.S. Senate in Florida, and Brian Sandoval, a former judge who holds a big lead in the Nevada gubernatorial race. Sure, that’s only three candidates. But in the 74 elections this year for governor or U.S. Senate—not all of them competitive—there are no Democratic Hispanic nominees. “Republicans have done a great job of recruiting Hispanic candidates,” one Democratic strategist told me. “They are giving us a big wakeup call this year.”
We have noted here at the Orange Juice that the California Democrats failed to nominate ANY Latinos for statewide office in the November primary election.
What does this all mean?
Well, the GOP is clearly antagonistic to Latinos. They are not a party that should have much Latino support. But now we can see for ourselves that the Democrats, while not generally bashers of Latinos, don’t do much for us either – and they certainly don’t care to identify and support our candidates.
The fastest growing portion of the electorate in California is Decline to State. That is how most Latino voters ought to be registering. They are a people without a party.
Ain’t that the Truth Zorro! Reps may be pandering but at least they are attempting to put action behind the demographic shift! Get on board Dems, there is a plethora of highly educated and well qualified Latino(a)s to fill the VOID!