Our NEW Hispanic Constituency!!!!

[qwlauren35]

I hope someone will talk about this.

I read recently that 30% of the Hispanic vote switched allegiance to the Democratic Party in this past election. And it made a difference in a lot of the border states previously "owned" by the Republicans.

Now, I'm hoping that this wasn't just a protest vote over being stabbed in the back by the Bush family. (That's my view. They were seriously courted in '04, with great open arms and frequent touting of Bush's Hispanic kin. Then Bush starts pushing his anti-immigrant agenda. Obviously, our Hispanic citizenry didn't take kindly to this!!!)

SO! Did we notice? Are we going to woo them now?

Sometimes I think the Democratic Party loses sight of the strength of its "fringes". We are sometimes a fragmented party of special interests. We have a lot of liberals, we have a strong pro-gay contingent, a strong pro-choice contingent, a strong black contingent, and yet, we also have a contingent that is moderate, and some, especially black voters, are quite conservative on many issues.

With our minds toward 2008, I really hope that we can continue to unify and strengthen our diverse party, while welcoming some new friends.

I'd hate to see the Hispanic vote swing back because we didn't appreciate their support.