A furious weekend of activities took place in Barack Obama’s home state of Hawai‘i, before the Feb. 19 primary caucuses there. Sen. Obama’s sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng (top right), lives in Honolulu with her husband, Konrad Ng, and their daughter, Suhaila, and has been making nonstop appearances for her brother.
Congressman Eni Faleomavaega (bottom right), delegate to Congress from American Samoa, and Hawai‘i-born actress Kelly Hu (bottom left) joined Maya at a picnic that Sunday in Kapi‘olani Park.
More than 37,000 voters turned out for the Hawai‘i caucuses, dwarfing the previous turnout record of 4,900 in 1988. Voters handed Sen. Obama a 76 percent victory and a win in every single district of the state.
The next battleground for AAPI votes is in the March 4 Texas primary, with 3.5 percent of the population identified as AAPI, concentrated mostly in Dallas and Houston.
— Cate Park and Keith Kamisugi
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March 4 will be a big day for Hillary in Texas and Ohio. San Francisco young AAPI professionals Tina Lee (left) and Betty Magome (second from left) listened intently to Bill Clinton at a Presidents Day gathering in San Jose, as he discussed the upcoming primaries and the dedicated operations.
“We hear your call,” Lee exclaimed to “Clinton 42.” Lee will be joining Bill and other “Club 44” members in Texas in getting out the vote for Hillary so she will be “Clinton 44.” An AAPI caravan from Los Angeles will also be headed to Texas.
Superstar Hillary volunteer Junelle Cavero got belated kudos from state Controller John Chiang at the Bill event for organizing a crowd of nearly 10,000 to welcome Hillary on Feb. 1 in San Jose at an AAPI-Latino rally. Cavero, a Californian who now calls D.C. home, has charted Iowa, Nevada, California and now Ohio.
Data master Ajay Abraham has been busy culling AAPI voter lists, so that AAPIs for Hillary coast-to-coast can keep up the AAPI outreach and phone banking.
— Julie D. Soo
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Asian American supporters of John McCain reacted to The New York Times article last week about his alleged improper relationship with a lobbyist.
The article should never have been allowed to emerge as a front-page headline in an attempt to smear McCain’s reputation.
Asian Americans know how dirty politics can be, but did not expect to see this kind of reporting that has blemished the historic name of The New York Times. They recognize truly bad taste and have called the story “a scurrilous and sleazy smear attack.”
We all know that Asians strive for the highest goals in attainment of their education and greatly respect the teachings of Confucius. In their minds, they know that “big trees attract strong winds,” as in the case of John McCain’s successes.
These “strong winds” can also come from Democratic candidates, as demonstrated by Barack Obama’s fear when he told Hillary Clinton, “We should not spend time tearing each other down; the enemy is the other side.” This almost reminds us of the TV commercial phrase, “How do we stop a train?” My answer is that there is no way when it is a John McCain train.
— Manny Wong