Democrats, Hillary Clinton counting on Latinos to win Arizona
Sara Morales became an American citizen in 2010 and has voted in every election since. This year, the Phoenix resident will be casting a ballot for Hillary Clinton, joining the tens of thousands of Latinos who Democrats hope will swing the traditionally conservative state in their direction. The prospect of Arizona voting for a Democrat for president has become more of a possibility as Donald Trump loses support within his party and organizations make a push to get Latinos to vote in a state that has long struggled to get its sizable Hispanic population to the polls. In some ways, Trump and Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio are making the task easier this year. Trump has angered many Latinos by calling Mexicans rapists and vowing to build a border wall and make Mexico pay for it. Arpaio has long been reviled by Latinos over his immigration raids. Activists are going door-to-door and carrying signs in predominantly Hispanic neighborhoods to rally voters on a proposed minimum-wage increase that’s also on the ballot and popular among Latinos. Morales, a custodian at a local school who is originally from Sonora, Mexico, struggled at first to find the right words to express how she feels about Trump. She rolled her eyes. “For me, I don’t think Trump will help anybody,” she said. “He doesn’t have values.” Turning Arizona blue would be a historic feat. The last time Arizona elected a Democrat for president was in 1996, when Bill Clinton won his second term. Before that, Harry S. Truman was the previous Democrat to carry Arizona. President Barack Obama lost Arizona by 9 percentage points and 8.5 points in his two campaigns. Arizona Democratic Party chairwoman Alexis Tamerón said the Clinton campaign and Democratic National Committee made a six-figure investment in August. Clinton’s campaign invested $2 million in Arizona in October and dispatched Chelsea Clinton, Sen. Bernie Sanders and first lady Michelle Obama to the state. Sen. Tim Kaine, Clinton’s running mate, will deliver a speech in Phoenix on Thursday entirely in Spanish. He also plans on stumping in Tucson. About two-thirds of registered Latino voters identify as Democrats, according to the Pew Research Center. Obama won 71 percent of the Latino vote in 2012. But turnout has been disappointing for political parties hoping to draw the Latino vote in Arizona because they have been reluctant to register to vote. Only 52 percent of Latinos eligible to vote in Arizona in 2012 actually registered, according to Latino Decisions. Those who were registered showed up in large numbers, with 78 percent of registered Latinos having cast a ballot. In all, 40 percent of eligible Latino voters cast a ballot that year. Advocates hope the tide will turn with a major push to increase Latino voter registration. One Arizona, a coalition of 14 advocacy groups, has been canvassing Latino neighborhoods all year. Spokeswoman Pita Juarez says staffers and volunteers registered 150,000 new voters in the state in the past nine months, doubling its original goal. “These communities, these neighborhoods were not being engaged,” Juarez said. One Arizona formed in 2010 in response to Arpaio’s immigration raids. Many of the organizations involved have been vocal opponents of the sheriff, staging protests outside his office and organizing massive demonstrations. The sheriff is running for a seventh term despite being charged recently with criminal contempt-of-court stemming from his immigration patrols. Juarez said the organization is now going back to canvass those neighborhoods, reminding newly registered voters to show up on Election Day. Former Gov. Jan Brewer, a Trump supporter who signed the landmark immigration crackdown known as SB1070, dismissed the notion of her state voting Democratic, telling the Boston Globe this month: “Nah. They don’t get out and vote. They don’t vote.” She later backtracked, but critics seized on the comments and urged Latinos to prove her wrong. Robert Graham, the chairman of the Arizona Republican Party, said his party, too, has made strides in registering Latinos to vote, putting heavy efforts in Santa Cruz County on the U.S.-Mexico border. Graham said he doubts Clinton will take Arizona. “This cycle could be different and they could turn out and whichever team they turn out for I would say they’re gonna be the benefactors and definitely the victors,” he said. Experts say that if Arizona does go to Clinton, it will not be a sweep down the ballot. Sen. John McCain has a strong lead over his Democratic opponent, Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick. At the same time, two ballot initiatives would legalize recreational marijuana and increase the minimum wage. “I think the voters in Arizona are a lot more liberal than the Legislature. And the image the state has is from some of the things the Legislature has done,” said David Berman, a senior research fellow at the Morrison Institute for Public Policy at Arizona State University. To succeed in Arizona, Clinton and her party will have to overcome voters like Ann Miller. The Scottsdale real estate agent identifies as an independent but registered Republican to vote for Trump in the March primary. She said Trump will broker trade agreements that will benefit the U.S. “If he does a fourth of what he says he will do, we will be in much better shape,” Miller said. Earl Vincent de Berge, director of research for the Behavior Research Center in Arizona, an independent firm, said Arizona is becoming more competitive. He says Arizona voters are more centrist than they are conservative or liberal. “You might not wanna believe it, but things, they are a’ changing,” he said. Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
Talk of Hillary Clinton winning Texas has GOP craving reality check
It’s no surprise that Hillary Clinton hasn’t gambled much on Texas, a state no Democratic presidential candidate has won in 40 years. What’s surprising is the scare she’s giving Republicans anyway. Growing talk over whether Texas is truly in jeopardy for Donald Trump has become another distress signal for the billionaire’s campaign, which is already fighting to hang onto Utah and Arizona, two other typically reliable GOP strongholds. Clinton is pouring millions of dollars into television ads in Arizona; Trump’s running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, campaigned this week in Salt Lake City. Such dead giveaways of a competitive race are harder to spot in Texas, but narrowing public opinion polls have made Republicans anxious as early voting numbers surge to record levels. Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott wasted no time addressing the elephant in the room at a small rally in Houston days ago. “Texas is being tested by Hillary Clinton,” Abbott said. He went on to fire up supporters for 10 minutes without once mentioning Trump’s name. A Democrat hasn’t won Texas in a presidential race since Jimmy Carter in 1976, and Democratic nominees have been trounced by double digits the last four times. Barack Obama lost Texas by 12 percentage points in 2008 and 16 in 2012. But Trump’s struggles and soured Republican voters have long-suffering Texas Democrats now daring to dream what seemed unimaginable only a few months ago. Texas’ 38 electoral votes are a must for a Republican presidential nominee in any election year, to say nothing of Trump, whose razor-thin path to victory makes Florida a must-win even though Clinton can prevail without it. “I believe the race is competitive,” said Austin-based Republican consultant Brendan Steinhauser, who ran Texas Sen. John Cornyn‘s last re-election campaign. “Rural Texans go for Trump. But the suburbs are going to be a potential huge problem for him.” Whether Clinton really does have an opening in Texas, there’s no doubt enthusiasm is high. The first two days of early voting were up 49 percent in the biggest counties compared with 2012. But there are few signs of Trump becoming defensive enough in Texas to spend much time or money to protect that GOP turf. Likewise, Clinton isn’t pulling out the stops for an upset. Clinton caused a stir in Texas this month by buying airtime for commercials – something Obama never bothered doing in the state this close to Election Day, Nov. 8. But federal disclosures show only a handful of spots in Houston and Dallas, where it would take millions of dollars to saturate airwaves. Meantime she’s spent $2 million on television advertising in Arizona and sent first lady Michelle Obama there to campaign for her. “We look at everything with clear eyes,” said Manny Garcia, deputy executive director of the Texas Democratic Party. “We know how hard it is to change this state.” He said he understands the enthusiasm from Democrats hoping to see Texas flip, an achievement that would rock the political world. “When you see that moment in Texas,” he said, “it’s game over, nationally.” Talk of Texas being in play comes just two years after Abbott and a ticket of brash tea party candidates in statewide races humiliated Democrats. One such Democrat was Wendy Davis, who lost her run for governor by 20 points despite a national fundraising apparatus and a campaign co-piloted by the architects of Obama’s re-election. Stacey Mendoza, a 50-year-old homemaker in the Houston suburb of Katy, left Abbott’s rally unfazed by Democrats who think they have a chance this time. But as she carried out a new Trump sign to put outside her house, she said Republicans need to push back in Texas, even though a Democrat hasn’t even won a statewide office since 1994. “I’ve heard some people don’t want to put Trump signs in their yards,” she said. “I’m not afraid.” She added: “I pray about it, too. I’m a believer.” On the other end of Houston, James Smith left an early voting site at a supermarket believing Clinton can carry Texas. “It’ll show everyone that anything can happen,” he said. Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
Red State says boot Donald Trump apologist Jeff Sessions from Judiciary Committee
For continuing to back Donald Trump, Jeff Sessions must be removed from the Senate Judiciary Committee. Caleb Howe of the conservative blog Red State, is calling for Sessions’ ouster, says the Alabama senator “can’t, or won’t, properly and accurately define sexual assault,” because he is too “committed to the cause” of supporting Trump at all costs. What the Republican presidential nominee described in the infamous 2005 “Access Hollywood” tape was sexual assault — as a “factual matter of law.” And since Sessions refuses to admit that simple fact, Howe says “he should not be on the judiciary committee and should step down or be removed immediately.” Howe is not the only one taking that position. Ultraviolet Action, which Howe describes as a “leftist feminist group” that exclusively targets Republicans and conservatives “opposed to women,” has begun a petition to remove Sessions, garnering 32,000-plus signatures as of Thursday. The group calls Sessions’ words “a clear part of the ‘War on Women’ narrative.” “On this,” Howe writes, “they are correct.” In an interview with Jim Jamitis of The Weekly Standard, Sessions admits it was “very improper language,” and that Trump “acknowledged that.” However, Sessions does not characterize the behavior described in the video as sexual assault, if that behavior — grabbing a woman by the genitals — should actually take place. “Think that’s a stretch,” Sessions said. “I don’t know what he meant … I don’t know. It’s not clear that he — how that would occur.” As for those excusing Trump’s words, some suggest “all women want it” because of the popularity of books like “50 Shades of Grey,” which was made into a movie. “Just to be clear,” Howe writes, “a man going up and grabbing a woman by the crotch is sexual assault. Just because the assaulter claims ‘she wanted it because I’m famous’ does not make it consensual. That is stupid and you are a stupid person if you say that.” “And Jeff Sessions is stupid,” he adds. “Or a liar.” Both Trump and Sessions are giving fodder to the leftist “War on Women” by “acting exactly as despicably as the caricature such groups have created.” These actions are hurting all Republicans, Howe says, “especially Sessions, who at least had some credibility before now.” “Kick Sessions out,” he concludes. “Do it now.”
Diane Roberts: Stop the French-bashing; we owe them
For reasons that do us no credit, Americans find it easy to insult the French. Perhaps we hate their freedoms – their freedom to live for something other than money, their freedom to enjoy food and sex minus 400 years of Protestant guilt. We call the French “cheese-eating surrender monkeys;” we sneer at John Kerry and Mitt Romney because they speak French. At the Oct. 28th debate, Jeb Bush tried to get clever about Congress’ laziness, accusing them of adhering to a “French work week.” When the French refused to participate in our perfectly stupid invasion of Iraq, we boycotted their wine and some particularly silly congressmen demanded that the House cafeterias serve “Freedom Fries,” and “Freedom Toast.” Now that Paris has suffered terrorist attacks that killed at least 132, some Americans are expressing sympathy and solidarity with France. President Obama called it an “attack on the civilized world.” Buildings from 1 World Trade Center in New York to a bridge in Nashville lit themselves up with the blue, white and red of the French tricoleur. Nous sommes tous Parisiens. Then there’s the Republican Party. Donald Trump castigated the French for their “tough gun control laws.” If only everyone in the concert hall and the restaurant and the stadium had been toting AK-47s like the terrorists, things would have been very different. Newt Gingrich and Anne Coulter piled on, blaming France for not being armed. The politicizing got so bad that Red State’s Erick Erickson, a big gun-hugger himself, tweeted: “I gotta say, it does feel a little icky to turn this attack in Paris into a debate on how France should adopt our 2nd amendment.” Naturally, it’s all Barack Obama’s fault. He didn’t keep U.S. troops in Iraq; he didn’t deal with Syria; he hurt Israel’s feelings; he refuses to utter the words “radical Islam.” We all know that those are magic words, words that would solve the problem. Criticizing Obama’s Syria policy is fair enough: It’s been disastrous. But blaming him for ISIL absolves the neocons of the Bush-Cheney administration whose trigger-happy invasion of Iraq and cavalier treatment of the country, especially the Rummy-Wolfie-Cheney de-Baathification program, poured gasoline on the flame of extremism. Trump would probably describe France as a “loser” country, with its paid maternity leave, fast trains, humane employment laws, and excellent healthcare system. The French, in turn, reject “Anglo-Saxon capitalism” as rapacious and destructive. Nevertheless, the United States could learn from France – as we have always learned from France. French philosophers inspired our Founding Fathers with the idea that government should serve its citizens and that freedom was a human right. Rousseau argued for the state’s “social contract” with the individual; Voltaire championed civil rights and religious freedom; Montesquieu advocated for the separation of powers in government. What, you thought we came up with that all by ourselves? The French tradition of reason, of rational thought, of respect for knowledge, might help Republican presidential candidates get past their hysterical responses. Ted Cruz says ISIL is “coming to America.” Jeb Bush says the U.S. should focus on “Christian refugees”: They’re welcome in the U.S. as long as we make sure they’re the real deal, you know, give them a catechism exam, ask them to eat a bacon sandwich, and see whether they say “Merry Christmas!” instead of “Happy Holidays.” Ben Carson wants to ban any and all refugees from the Middle East. That’ll learn ’em. Because Obama’s going to let in 200,000 Syrians who are almost certainly psychopathic jihadis. Carson would bomb an oil field to make ISIL “look like losers.” Trump wants to bomb, too: all the oil fields. Then Exxon can come in and make everything, as he said, “beautiful.” And, according to him, it’s 250,000 Syrian refugees. The real number proposed by Obama is 10,000. But why let the facts get in the way of a good piece of political insanity? And under no circumstances should we remember that terrorists are often homegrown: Timothy McVeigh, the London suicide bombers in 2005, Anders Behring Breivik, and Dylan Roof were native to the nation they tried to attack. If nothing else, perhaps the Republicans will stop with the French-bashing and remember that if it were not for France, the United States would not exist. The French government sent guns, soldiers and money during the American Revolution, and the Marquis de Lafayette spent millions of his own fortune on American independence. The French deserve better than to be told they should be just like us. Diane Roberts teaches at Florida State University. Her latest book is “TRIBAL: College football and the Secret Heart of America.”
