Subject: [big campaign] New Huff Post from Creamer-Latinos Stop R's from Siezing Control of Senate
From: [email-masked]
To: [email-masked], [email-masked]
Date: Fri, 5 Nov 2010 08:23:29 -0400 (EDT)
List-Id: <bigcampaign.googlegroups.com>

Latinos Prevent Republicans from Seizing Control of  Senate 

Republicans won control of the House last Tuesday, but their hopes of  
controlling the Senate as well were stymied by a firewall of Latino voters who  
were outraged by Republican demonization of Latino immigrants, their Arizona 
“papers please”  law, their proposal to repeal the 14th Amendment, and 
their overall  opposition to comprehensive immigration reform. 
The consequences of the Republican anti-immigrant rhetoric will likely  
spread far beyond last Tuesday’s election. The fact that Republicans have  
alienated the fastest-growing ethnic group in America  will have far-reaching 
consequences for the party’s ability to win a  Presidential election and 
compete nationally over the long  term. 
A quick look at the numbers tells the tale: 
* Senator Harry  Reid was trailing Tea Party icon Sharron Angle going into 
Tuesday’s  election.  In fact, Reid beat Angle  by over 6 percent..  The big 
 difference was the Latino vote.  Reid beat Angle among Latinos a whopping 
90% to 8%, and Latino turnout  was up from 12% of the electorate in the 2006 
Mid-Terms to 15% in 2010.   
* In Colorado’s Senate race, the consensus polls  showed Democrat Michael 
Bennet losing by about 1% in a close race.  Instead he won by 1%.  His margin 
among Latinos was 81% to 19%  and Latino turnout was up from 9% of the 
electorate in 2006 to 13% in 2010.   
* In the California Senate race, Barbara Boxer beat Carly Fiorina among  
Latinos 86% to 14%, and Latino turnout was up from 19% of the electorate in 
2006  to 22% in 2010. Fiorina lost despite having spent a record-setting $140 
million  of her own money on the campaign.  
Latinos also made the difference in critical Governors’ races that will  
affect the playing field shaped by redistricting.   
* In California, Jerry Brown won Latinos 86% to 13% over  Republican Meg 
Whitman, who had endorsed the Arizona law during the primary and whose  
hypocrisy on immigration became an issue when it was revealed she had hired an  
undocumented immigrant to be her maid, and then treated her badly.   
* John Hickenlooper  won the Colorado Governor’s mansion in a contest with 
arch anti-immigrant Tom  Tancredo and rightwinger Dan Maes.  Among Latinos 
he got 77% of the vote, compared with 14% and 9% for  Tancredo and Maes.  
* And in Illinois, Democrat Pat  Quinn was re-elected by a margin of fewer 
than 20,000 votes.  Latinos voted for Quinn 83% to 13% for  his opponent.   
Even at 6% of  the voters, the support of the Latino community was decisive. 
  
* According to  election-eve polling of Latino voters conducted in eight 
key states (AZ, CA, CO,  FL, IL, NM, NV, TX), Latinos  overall voted for 
Democrats over  Republicans by approximately 75% to 25% -- a 3 to 1 margin.  That 
is a stark contrast to six years  ago when Latinos voted for Democrat John 
Kerry over George Bush by only 59% to  40% -- a 3 to 2 margin. There has 
been a massive swing toward Democrats and away  from Republicans in this 
fastest-growing group of voters in the  country. 
Immigration was the  major issue driving these vote totals.  In some cases 
Republican candidates depicted Hispanics as gang members  and criminals in 
ads that were meant to whip up fear among Anglo voters about  immigration.   
That kind of  rhetoric is not understood as a difference about a policy or 
issue.  It directly offended the Latino  community’s sense of identity, pride 
and self-worth.   That drove voter decisions as well  as turnout.   
The Las Vegas Sun quoted Gilberto Ramirez, a first-time,  
recently-naturalized voter from Reno, Nevada,  as he explained how Sharron Angle’s 
anti-Latino ads influenced the fact that he  turned out and the fact that he voted for 
Harry Reid: “She was depicting me as a  gang member.  I served seven years 
in the Marine  Corps.”  
Fiorina and Whitman  got on the wrong side of the immigration issue in 
order to win Republican  primaries. Angle, Tancredo, Maes and Colorado 
Republican Senate candidate Ken  Buck overtly trumpeted their anti-immigration 
positions to whip up fear and  anti-immigrant votes.  Turned out  that was a bad 
call.  And it will  likely turn out to be a worse and worse call that will 
effectively prevent  Republicans from winning control of the White House.  In 
fact, demographers tell us that  another 1.25 million Latinos will reach 
voting age between now and 2012.   
A major organizational effort by Latino and immigration rights groups  
helped galvanize voter turn out.  The level of organization is only likely to 
grow over the next several  years.  
The fact is that as the Latino population continues to grow, it will  
rapidly become impossible to put together an electoral majority of 270 electoral  
votes with that kind of Hispanic opposition.   
It is increasingly difficult  for overtly anti-immigrant candidates to win 
electoral votes in states like  California, Colorado, Nevada,  Illinois, New 
 York, New Jersey and Florida. Together these  states have 117 electoral 
votes.  It  would also be very difficult for them to win New  Mexico, and 
might even put Texas into play.  Remember that when John McCain and  George Bush 
ran for President they presented themselves as pro-immigration  reform 
candidates.  Bush got a  sizable percentage of Hispanic voters.  McCain got 
less, but was not wiped out.  Between them, Texas and New  Mexico have another 
34 electoral votes.   
If an anti-immigration  Republican disqualifies himself completely in 
states with 117 electoral votes,  and then makes life very difficult in states 
with another 34 (a total of 151  votes), that massively narrows the 
playing-field where he or she must assemble  the 270 votes needed to win election.  
Of course right now,  Republicans are flush with their victory in the 
House, and there is no sign that  they recognize the looming political disaster 
just over the demographic horizon.  Already Republicans have denied 
themselves potential control of the Senate  because of their immigrant bashing. It is 
likely that the fresh gang of Tea  Party extremists that they have just 
sent to Washington will make matters worse.  Nothing like being hoisted on your 
own  petard.  
Robert Creamer is  a long-time political organizer and strategist, and 
author of the recent book:  “Stand Up Straight: How Progressives Can Win,” 
available on _amazon.com_ 
(http://www.amazon.com/Listen-Your-Mother-Straight-Progressives/dp/0979585295/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1206567141&sr=8-1
) . 

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