Clinton Supporters
I’m still happy and satisfied with the result from yesterday’s primaries because our winning in Indiana is very encouraging. Indiana was once considered as “Obama’s territory” because the northwestern part of Indiana gets strong influences from the TV from Chicago (Obama’s home town), so I didn’t really have confidence for this state.
Of course, I never dreamt that we could win North Carolina because it has so many black and young voters there. They are the most loyal groups to Obama even with “Rev. Wrights” and “bitter gate,” they will never ever change their support to Obama. Even though I made calls to many Asian voters in North Carolina, it won’t change the result there.
I hope our superdelegates will be smart enough to pick the best leader for U.S., who can lead us out from the fallen economy and provide a better educational opportunity for our children. Most people select Obama just because he is like a new charming rising star on the stage. But how much they know about his ability? Can he lead our nation in the right direction?
As a housewife, I’m a simple and practical person; I just want a down to earth leader who can give us better daily life in dealing with food costs, gasoline prices, and the dollar value when we travel - not a movie star leader on stage to talk about abstract dreams and changes. Therefore, I shall flight for Hillary until the last minute.
-Vickie Kwok-hung Luk, 55
San Francisco,
Housewife
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Hillary Clinton’s fight-worthiness — tenacity and perseverance — has moved many voters who were either on the fence or formerly on the other side. But, the results on May 6 were largely based on socio-economics and somewhat predictable. Where Indiana’s working class demographics mirrored Ohio and Pennsylvania, the results again favored Hillary. North Carolina’s black vote at about 30 percent went overwhelmingly to the challenger.
CNN called the race in North Carolina for Obama early based on exit polls, with just 15 percent of the precincts reporting. Indiana’s results fluctuated much of the night with Hillary holding a narrow lead. Hillary handily won the rural, mostly white areas. The results for Lake County did not materialize until late into the evening and just half of the results were in by 1 AM EST. Some twenty minutes later, CNN called Indiana for Clinton.
The Clinton camp was reportedly watching Lake County closely because of the drama surrounding Gary, a predominantly African American city where the mayor is an ardent Obama supporter. Gary Mayor Rudy Clay predicted early on that the state’s results would be a “shocker,” dictated by Lake County and Gary, its largest city. The unusual practice of collecting the tally cartridges in Lake County — first to the airport and then to a counting center — has prompted some analysts to call it subject to irregularities and “Chicago-style” counting. To be noted, most of the mayor’s in other towns making up Lake County are Hillary supporters.
That the John and Elizabeth Edwards had declined to endorse did not seem to make a difference. Most voters seem to have already forgotten about this political couple and the former Senator from North Carolina seemed to have lost popularity with his own state even while still in office. Some speculate that couple is split on the decision. Elizabeth, who is battling cancer, has publicly spoken that she believes that Hillary is the candidate with the strongest health plan.
The Democrats should appreciate this tough fight. Good results come from hard won victories. There are still upcoming primaries and the Florida and Michigan delegates are still at issue.
- Julie D. Soo
Obama Supporters
By some estimates, Barack Obama is 185 delegates shy of winning the Democratic presidential nomination after last night’s decisive victory in North Carolina, his strong showing in Indiana and his win in Guam on Saturday.
It’s time for the remaining uncommitted superdelegates to make their choices known and bring closure to the longest Democratic primary race in a generation, if not the history of this country. — Catherine Park
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After last night’s North Carolina win, Saturday’s Guam win and the delegate wins in Indiana, it looks even more promising that Barack Obama is going to be our Democratic presidential nominee. The only way that Sen. Clinton can win the nomination is to change the rules of the game or ask superdelegates to overturn the will of the voters.
Regardless of the outcome, we must begin to bring together all Asian Americans who believe that the principles and policies of a Democratic nominee should win the White House in November.
- Keith Kamisugi, 37, nonprofit communications director, San Francisco,
AAPI for Obama volunteer
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Tonight’s outcome was hard fought on the ground. Members of Barack’s AAPI National Leadership Council were in Indiana this past week. Obama field operations in North Carolina and Indiana got huge boosts from the army of grassroots volunteers that the Obama campaign has organized in every primary state-last weekend in San Francisco, our volunteers were calling voters in these states. The issues on people’s minds were lost jobs, gas prices, and a cynicism about empty promises.
Barack’s victory in North Carolina was decisive. Indiana (like Guam) was a real nail-biter. While Hillary eked out a two-point victory there, following the toughest month of his campaign, Senator Obama showed his resilience as a candidate, expanded his delegate lead, and is closing in on the nomination.
Both camps sounded the theme of party unity. Supporters of Barack and Hillary have to start talking about how we’re going to come together and take on the real foe-George W. Bush and his would-be successor John McCain.
As I watched CNN’s John King fiddle with hi-tech maps and bar graphs, I got a call from my excited American mother-who was up late on the east coast. Our conversations on key primary nights have become ritual. “I’m so relieved!” she exclaimed, and then recounted how her friend, a retired Filipina nurse in North Carolina, said her car is covered with Obama signs-which prompted my dad to chime in that I haven’t sent them any Obama bumper stickers yet.
I didn’t grow up in a very political household, but my parents instilled in us kids a strong concern for social justice and a responsibility to give back for our blessings. Barack’s speech tonight spoke to these values and personalized them as his love for this country. His story-our story-is not possible anywhere but here.
There’s no question APA voters, like the rest of the electorate, are getting more savvy about the democratic process because of this long contest. I look at my own mother, who is now well-versed in gas tax holidays, as an example. While some degree of fatigue is unavoidable, APA volunteers continue to be generous with their time. Obama supporters were energized by last night’s results and will be turning out en masse this Saturday to register new voters. People recognize we are making history here–and want to be a part of it.
APAs have been playing critical roles in the Obama campaign in reaching out to APA voters in Pennsylvania, Guam and North Carolina. But we’ve also been providing a lot of the grassroots energy in the general campaign. Here in San Francisco, at least four Asian Americans are leaders in our volunteer structure. Many more come out regularly to our phonebanks and fundraisers. APA volunteers were critical to Obama’s win in Philadelphia. As Barack moves closer to securing the nomination, we are turning our attention to building the voter base for the general election in our home states, making sure our communities have a chance to get to know him, Michelle, Maya and the rest of his family better, and educating the campaign about the issues in our communities.
In Guam, both candidates have APA superdelegate support. In the upcoming Oregon primary, Congressman David Wu has already endorsed Barack Obama. There are still a handful of undecided APA superdelegates, and our communities are definitely paying close attention. If Barack has the lead in pledged delegates at the end of the primaries, I believe the majority of remaining superdelegates will honor the will of the voters.
I took in the results from North Carolina and Indiana with other supporters. We were making calls to recruit volunteers for an Obama voter registration drive this Saturday. As a next step towards changing the electoral map for November, more than 100 volunteers will hit the streets of San Francisco registering new voters as part of a nationwide effort. This kind of forward thinking is an example of how Barack’s campaign is energizing the grassroots and changing the odds altogether by bringing so many new voters into the process . ‑ Angelica K. Jongco, 30, Attorney, San Francisco; Volunteer Leader, San Francisco for Obama/Asian Americans for Obama
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Obama was the clear victor at the end of the night, and will be walking away with an increased delegate and popular vote lead. Despite the best efforts of his opponents to demonize him through his pastor and alienate him from white working class voters, he managed to play Clinton to a virtual draw in Indiana and soundly defeated her in the bigger state of North Carolina by nearly 15 percentage points. Clinton’s own camp admitted that she needed a convincing win in Indiana to stay in the race; 50.9% can hardly be considered convincing.
I hope that superdelegates will take this opportunity to do what the majority of Democrats in this country have already done, and unite behind Barack Obama.
- Jay Chen, 30, Los Angeles, School Board Member, Hacienda-La Puente
Unified School District
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It was an amazing night, and we were all kept on the edge of our seats by the results in Indiana.
In the end, I was very pleased. Not only did Senator Obama win North Carolina by a whopping margin but he nearly won Indiana as well! The margin there was a mere 22,412 votes! This goes to show, once again, that indeed every vote counts.
This past weekend the Bay Area chapter of South Asians for Obama along with dedicated SF for Obama volunteers made over 500 calls to South Asian voters in North Carolina as well as thousands of calls to voters in Indiana. All those long hours were totally worth it after seeing the results tonight.
We have helped shape a new political landscape. I never thought that I would ever know so much about each state in our country or spoken to so many strangers across America, and the fact that I do and have is extraordinary. - Anhoni Patel, Chair, South Asians for Obama, San Francisco