I think 6000 Hispanic elected officials is way too many. I also believe that their politics and agenda are blatantly racist. I???m going to form a WASP coalition to ensure that more WASPs run for and are elected to public office. Oh, and by the way, Villa-what-ever-a-his-name-a is, sucks as mayor of L.A.
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Which may lead some Latinos to ask: will there be a day when they can simply rely on their own demographic power to propel candidates into office? In recent years Hispanics have made considerable gains, winning in some unlikely places, such as Wichita, Kans. (mayor), Idaho (state senator) and Carrboro, N.C. (alderman). There are now more than 6,000 Hispanic elected officials, according to the National Association of Latino Elected Officials. Just last year the Senate gained the first two Latinos in recent times: Republican Mel Martinez from Florida and Democrat Ken Salazar from Colorado. Yet in most of these cases, the candidates won because they either resided in majority-minority districts or they fashioned new iterations of multiethnic and multiracial alliances. Even if Latinos were to pursue a singularly Hispanic campaign strategy in a competitive race, their dizzying diversity--with recently arrived Dominicans, Cuban-American exiles and 10th-generation New Mexicans living under one umbrella--would raise its own prickly issues. Whatever the strategy, though, the bottom line is that Latinos are steadily securing higher office. While the traditional critique of Hispanic politics has been "that you guys aren't ready for prime time," says Antonio Gonzalez of the William C. Velasquez Institute, Villaraigosa shows that "Latinos can win the big one." Surely the next victory can't be too far away. Democrats had better pray they're part of it.
WITH T. TRENT GEGAX, ANDREW MURR AND JONATHAN DARMAN and GRAPHIC BY ANDREW ROMANO
© 2005
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