Morning NewsTaco
Friday August 31, 2012
Latino voters likely to make up 8% of electorate in 7 tossup states (Denver Post): A new study by the Center for Immigration Studies projects that Latino voters will make up 8 percent of the total electorate in the upcoming election in the seven tossup states, including Colorado. That is slightly less than the Latino share of the electorate nationally. That is projected to be at 8.9 percent in November, an increase from the 7.4 percent of the Latino electorate in the 2008 election.
Only 4 percent of voters in swing states are Latino (Examiner): The Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), an immigration think tank, pooled all the Census Bureau data to formulate a composite of the Hispanic voter. CIS concluded that Latino voters represent 8.9 percent of the 2012 voting electorate, up 1.5 percent in 2008. Surprisingly, the Hispanic voters only represent about 4 percent of the vote in the important swing states.
The G.O.P.’s Message to Latino Voters (New York Times): That’s one mixed-up message the Republicans are sending to Latino voters, in Spanish and English. At a news conference for the Hispanic press yesterday, with Francisco Canseco, a Congressman from Texas, and John Sununu, the former New Hampshire governor (who is not Hispanic, but speaks Spanish very well), some of the talking points were:
Rubio: GOP Needs To Do More To Address Hispanics (Associated Press/CBS Miami): U.S. Senator Marco Rubio says his party, as well as the Democrats, need to do more to address the needs of Hispanic Americans.
As Republicans build their farm team, Latinos are in demand (NBC): Not unlike a professional baseball team, a political party’s success in developing its future leaders in Washington hinges partly on how good a farm team it builds in state legislatures. And with the Census Bureau projecting that Latinos will be 30 percent of the U.S. population less than 40 years from now, up from about 17 percent of the population today, Republicans were eager to introduce some of their Latino state legislative candidates at the GOP convention this week in Tampa.
Poll: Latinos view Paul Ryan unfavorably (Politico): Some new polling data out from Latino Decisions shows that Paul Ryan is still unknown to many Latino voters — and of the ones who do know him, he has a 16-point favorability deficit:
Alienating Latinos could cost Romney the election (Chicago Sun Times): Mitt Romney and the Republican Party have done everything in their power to alienate Latinos, blacks and women. The Republicans run the risk of losing the presidential election because they have become a party of extremists with no tolerance for a more diverse mainstream America.
Ann Romney blames Democrats for GOP’s poor standing with Latinos (NBCNews): Ann Romney today placed blame on the Democratic Party for creating “biases” in the Latino community that, she argued, are anti-Republican. The wife of the soon-to-be GOP presidential nominee said she, like many Republicans, understands and sympathizes with Latinos and how many came to this country for a better life.
Cruz appeals to Hispanics in prime-time speech at RNC (Texas Tribune/WFAA): U.S. Senate hopeful Ted Cruz, basking in the national spotlight since defeating Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, appealed directly to Hispanics and portrayed his smashing primary victory as part of a “great awakening” of American voters during a prime-time speech at the Republican National Convention Tuesday night.
Republicans Give Party F For Minorities Seeking To Belong (Bloomberg): While most of the focus at the Tampa Bay Times Forum is on the speeches given from the Republican Party convention stage, AJ Feeney-Ruiz is quietly delivering a different message. He was one of a handful of state and local Hispanic candidates being introduced to the national media — and to party activists who can boost their prospects.
Federal court blocks Texas voter ID law (Reuters): A federal court on Thursday blocked a Texas law that would require voters to show photo identification before casting ballots, saying the measure would likely curtail the ability of minorities to vote in the November 6 presidential election.
Court Blocks Texas Voter ID Law, Citing Racial Impact (New York Times): A federal court on Thursday struck down a Texas law that would have required voters to show government-issued photo identification before casting their ballots in November, ruling that the law would hurt turnout among minority voters and impose “strict, unforgiving burdens on the poor” by charging those voters who lack proper documentation fees to obtain election ID cards.
Federal court rules against Texas voter ID law (Los Angeles Times): A federal court has ruled for the first time that a strict photo identification law discriminates against poor and minority voters in violation of the Voting Rights Act, barring Texas from enforcing its new requirement at polling places this fall.
Anti-Hispanic Gerrymandering Struck Down in Texas (Salon): Even as the Republican convention coverage makes a big show of big names in the way of Hispanic leadership, a federal appeals court in Washington struck down the new Texas legislature districts designed by the state’s Republican-controlled legislature for gross violation of the Voting Rights Act. While names like Marco Rubio, Nevada governor Brian Sandoval, New Mexico governor Susanna Martinez and Texas candidate for Senate Ted Cruz bask in the spotlight, the party’s real reaction to swelling Latino voter rolls is all about vote suppression.
Court rejects Texas redistricting maps (Chicago Tribune): A U.S. federal court ruled on Tuesday that controversial Texas redistricting maps discriminate against black and Hispanic voters, effectively killing the new districts before they could take effect for the November 6 presidential election.
Federal Court: Texas Voter ID Law Violates Voting Rights Act (The Nation): On Tuesday, a federal court in Washington found that Texas’s redistricting maps violated Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act and were “enacted with discriminatory purpose.” On Thursday a separate three-judge federal court panel in Washington unanimously found that Texas’s voter ID law also violated Section 5 bydiscriminating against minority voters.
Texas Election Maps To Be Debated After ID Law Rejected (Bloomberg): The Texas districts from which voters will elect congressional and state representatives will be argued today before a three-judge panel, one day after the state’s law requiring voters to have photo identification was rejected by a different court in Washington.
Hispanics Are Now the Largest Minority in College (U.S. News & World Report): For the first time in history, enrollments at four-year colleges for Hispanic students between 18 and 24 topped 2 million in 2011. Hispanics are now the largest minority on college campuses, making up roughly 16.5 percent of all U.S. college students, according to a recent study by the Pew Hispanic Center that used newly available U.S. Census Bureau data. Hispanics are also making strides in two-year colleges, according to the study, making up roughly one quarter of all 18-to-24-year-old students.
Latinos may get own race category on census form (Seattle Times): U.S. residents of Spanish origin typically have no trouble checking the box on their census form that asks whether they are Latino, Hispanic or Spanish. It’s a different question — the one that asks their race — that apparently gives some of them pause. In the 2010 census, well over one-third — perhaps unsure how to answer that question — either checked “some other race” or skipped the question entirely.
