October 19, 2002
Where are the Hispanic voters?

This Chron article says that Tony Sanchez's efforts to recruit and energize new Hispanic voters has fallen short of its goal, which in turn may cost him in November. I'm not convinced that it's a fatal flaw, on the grounds that Hispanic voters historically have turned out in lower numbers than black and Anglos (at least in Texas). Sanchez will be working to get more of those already-registered folks to turn out this year. Though it's admittedly not clear how successful that effort will be, this article gives no indication of where that effort now stands. I'm a bit surprised that R.G. Ratcliffe failed to note the Sanchez campaign's claim of having rented every van in the state, a claim I've also seen reported in the San Antonio Express-News.

There is some good news for Democrats in this story:


The bright spot in the state coordinated campaign organization, said some Democrats who did not want their name used, is that state Rep. Terri Hodge of Dallas has developed a strong get-out-the-vote effort for black voters.

In the Democratic primaries, Kirk pushed U.S. Rep. Ken Bentsen of Houston out of the runoffs with a surprisingly strong showing among Dallas black voters. Kirk won the runoff over schoolteacher Victor Morales.


There's some excellent coverage in this thread at the MyDD web page.

Posted by Charles Kuffner on October 19, 2002 to Election 2002
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