Hispanic
Media Played Role in Clinton Texas Win
SAN
ANTONIO (By Peter Micek, New America
Media) March 8, 2008 — Hillary
Clinton won the Texas primary, and she
has Hispanic voters to thank. The
reasons, according to Spanish-language
media, have more to do with politics and
name recognition than racial prejudices.
Clinton proved that she still commands
an overwhelming lead over Barack Obama
among Hispanic voters, who made up
nearly one third of Texas voters in
Tuesday’s record-breaking turnout.
According to CNN exit polling on March
4, Hispanic voters in the Texas primary
supported Clinton over Obama by a
two-to-one margin.
To understand the candidate’s continued
popularity among Hispanics in Texas, one
need only read the Hispanic press, which
has been following Clinton’s campaign
closely.
In his article, "Mexican Tastes Do Not
Include Obama," Raoul Lowery Contreras
writes in the Spanish-language
newsweekly HispanicVista.com that the
Hispanic vote is no monolith.
Obama may have done well with the
Virginia "Hispanic vote," Contreras
writes, but that was no indicator for
Texas.
"Virginia Hispanics are mostly
Salvadorans," he notes. "With few
exceptions, Salvadorans came here to
escape the civil war that Salvadoran
leftists lost to right-of-center
conservative forces. They carry with
them leftist souls that have no
embodiment in American politics other
than in Obama, the most liberal senator
in the Senate."
Contreras predicted that most Mexican
Americans in Texas, like the Mexicans in
California and Arizona, would not vote
for Obama.
Despite differences in the Hispanic
populations of California and Texas —
the Texans are largely Mexican-Americans
born in the state, who speak English
well, in addition to Spanish — both
groups solidly backed Hillary.
Hispanic voters gave Clinton the win in
California, according to a Feb. 29
article in Spanish-language La Opinión,
a Los Angeles daily newspaper.
"Hispanics have kept alive Hillary's
campaign," said Andy Hernández, a
Houston, Texas Democratic activist and
Clinton supporter, in La Opinión. If
Obama wins 40 percent of the Hispanic
vote in Texas, he said, he will have
gained much ground on his opponent.
CNN exit polls gave him 32 percent.
The large population of Hispanics in
Texas brought the Hispanic vote into the
spotlight before the state's primary.
Along with it came a story of tension
between African Americans and Hispanics.
"It is a reality that we cannot hide:
You see it on the streets, in schools,
and in prisons," wrote syndicated
columnist Jorge Ramos in his Feb. 29
column, "New Rule: Hispanics Decide."
The friction comes from economic and
political competition between two groups
looking for "the same thing: a better
way of life and more representation."
Ramos insists, though, Hispanics would
nonetheless vote for African-American
candidates, citing previous Hispanic
support for New York's black Mayor David
Dinkins, Dallas' Ron Kirk, and for Obama
in Virginia and Arizona.
"Reality" supports the idea Mexican
voters look beyond race, wrote Gustavo
Arellano in his comedic "¡Ask a
Mexican!" syndicated column.
"Mexicans largely ignored the
presidential run of New Mexico governor
Bill Richardson and have supported black
politicians," Arellano said, "from the
days of Vicente Guerrero (the mulatto
Mexican president who outlawed slavery
in 1829) to big-city mayors like Tom
Bradley and Harold Washington."
As for Obama, Arellano says, name
recognition and policies have more to do
with the issue than skin color.
When asked by a reader, "Why won’t
Mexicans vote for a black man?" Arellano
responds sarcastically: "Heaven forbid
Mexicans support a nationally known
personality with whom they’re more
familiar instead of a first-term senator
from a flyover state. And anyone ever
think Mexicans are more inclined to vote
for Clinton because they like her
centrist policies more than Obama’s
liberal promises?"
But as Democratic candidates campaigned
in Texas, the larger story in the
Hispanic media was the candidates’
unprecedented bid for Hispanic votes.
Columnist Jorge Ramos heralded the
arrival of these politically powerful
Hispanics who will form one-third of the
United States population by 2050.
"Have you noticed that no one talks
about the Hispanic vote as a sleeping
giant anymore?" asked Ramos in the
Dallas-Fort Worth Spanish-language
newspaper Diario La Estrella. "We are
more awake than ever. We are many and we
will be even more."
The Democratic candidates' Feb. 21
debate in Austin, Texas, broadcast in
English and Spanish — which Ramos
moderated — proved the relevance of the
Hispanic vote, Ramos said.
San Antonio’s Spanish-language Rumbo
newspaper, which was recently bought by
ImpreMedia, deployed reporters
throughout the state before the
election. Last week, it published two
exclusives: an interview with Clinton
and a commentary by Obama.
A host of lighter stories also filled
Hispanic newspapers, including a look at
the music campaigners used to attract
votes.
"The Democratic candidates now want to
get to Hispanics' hearts through their
music," wrote Liliana Vargas-Lemons in
Al Día, a Spanish-language publication
of the Dallas Morning News Co.
The group Amigos de Obama, or Friends of
Obama, contracted a mariachi band and
produced "¡Viva Obama 2008!" The
commercial and music video praises
Obama's humble roots, activism in
Chicago and dedication to service.
In response, Vargas-Lemons said, Hillary
Clinton rolled out a new campaign
commercial with the song, "Hillary,
Hillary Clinton" sung by Walter Suhr &
The Mango Punch, with a presentation by
Tejano or Tex-Mex musician Johnny
Canales.
Political activist Renny Rosas of Fort
Worth doubted the value of the songs in
getting Hispanic votes. The most
politicized Hispanics are well
integrated into American culture and
speak English, she told Al Día.
However, as a marketing tool, she said,
songs in any language are a good
strategy.
