Presidential Campaign Update
February 27, 2008
Hillary Clinton
Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders for Hillary — under the leadership of Irene Bueno, the national consultant to AAPIs for Hillary — have continued working the phones and canvassing with even more conviction since Super Tuesday.
On Presidents Day, Bill Clinton attended an AAPI community and South Bay reception and fund-raiser in San Jose, anchored by AAPI Co-chairs Otto Lee (Sunnyvale City Council) and Henry Manayan (former mayor of Milpitas and currently Filipino American Caucus chair for the California Democratic Party). Later Kamil Hasan and his wife, Talat, hosted an Indo-American and Silicon Valley reception and fund-raiser at their Saratoga home.
The Bay Area Filipina network, including Ana Bustos, Susan Po-Rufino and Mary Lou Salcedo, have been hosting “Bring Your Own Phone” parties to make calls to other states.
Many AAPIs from California, D.C. and New York will meet up in Texas to work through that state’s complex primary and caucus hybrid.
— Julie D. Soo, Esq.
John McCain
As the presumptive nominee of the GOP, the McCain campaign spent the previous week getting ready for last Tuesday’s primary in Wisconsin.
Asian Americans had previously helped get out the vote by knocking on doors in Virginia, D.C. and Maryland. KV Kumar and Manny Wong, co-chairs of the group, also helped organize a fund-raiser for McCain in Phoenix, Ariz.
Everyone is getting ready for a big push in Texas, which has a sizeable Asian American population. The campaign was also buoyed by the new Gallup poll saying that 51 percent of Republicans — including Asian Americans — would support McCain as president.
The “Straight Talk Express” continued to scoop up key endorsements, including former President George H. W. Bush, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, former Gov. Mitt Romney, American Values president Gary Bauer and Republican Steering Committee head Rep. Jeb Hensarling.
Asian Americans are also planning to restart the National Asian American Republican Coalition, organized by the late John Tsu in 2000, to solidify Asian Americans to vote for the nominee.
— Manny Wong
Barack Obama
More than two dozen AAPIs traveled to Las Vegas at their own expense in a trip coordinated by APA for Progress for the Jan. 19 Nevada primaries, and 300-person AAPI for Obama parties were held in Los Angeles and San Francisco and headlined by Kelly Hu before the Feb. 5 California primaries.
On Feb. 9 and 10, house parties coordinated by Annabel Park, Grace Nozaki and Angelica Jongco, and done in partnership with Latinos for Obama and South Asians for Obama, were held in Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, New York and Washington, D.C., generating more then 10,000 virtual phone banking calls to voters in the Potomac primary states, where Obama won by large margins on Feb. 12.
The next battleground for AAPI votes is in the March 4 Texas primary, with 3.5 percent of the population identified as AAPI, and concentrated mostly in Dallas and Houston. “AAPIs in Texas live scattered throughout many neighborhoods,” said Ramey Ko, founder of Asian Americans for Obama. “There are virtually no true Chinatowns or similar ethnic enclaves.” Obama’s AAPI supporters are also getting ready for a big Texas event on Feb. 22, with a surprise guest.
— Cate Park and
Keith Kamisugi
Comments
One Response to “Presidential Campaign Update”
Got something to say?
Texas and Ohio for Hillary! Vote for the candidate with experience!