NY Magazine: "The Evita Factor: Hillary Clinton's Popularity With Hispanics"

[bidenista]

The Evita Factor
By John Heilemann

...Until recently, Obama had been a kind of missing person in the fight for the Hispanic vote. There was little outreach, a dearth of endorsers, no media effort to speak of. In his soaring speeches about how “there’s no such thing as false hope,” Obama would name-check the civil-rights movement but say nothing of the farm workers; he would evoke Martin Luther King but never César Chávez. For a long time, says Rosenberg, “it was hard to determine if they had a Hispanic strategy at all.”

Considering Obama’s pan-racial appeal and his message of omni-inclusion, this omission is mystifying. One theory is that he was endeavoring mightily not to let himself get pigeonholed as the Benetton candidate. But another is that Hispanic politics fell outside the comfort zone of Obama’s high command. David Axelrod, his chief strategist, is a Chicagoan through and through: For him, ethnic politics are all about black and white. David Plouffe, his campaign manager, is a Dick Gephardt guy (not many Hispanics in St. Louis); Steve Hildebrand, his field architect, earned his stripes with Tom Daschle (even fewer in South Dakota). “At bottom, ironically, it’s a very traditional white-guy campaign,” observes a Democratic strategist. “And this Hispanic thing is still very new to a lot of operatives—they just didn’t know how to do it.”

With February 5 looming, however, they had no choice but to dive in. The endorsement of Ted Kennedy—whose family name and status as the champion of liberal immigration reform are gold among Hispanics—provided the campaign with a powerful weapon to deploy. And so has a late-stage rush of estimable Latino endorsements, such as that of California congressman Xavier Becerra. Still, it’s hard to argue that this last-ditch effort puts BHO on level footing with HRC. Although Obama has taken to arguing that the contest between him and Hillary is between “the future and the past,” when it comes to fashioning a campaign in tune with the nation’s emerging demographic realities, the Clinton campaign has been far more forward-looking—even visionary....

More: http://nymag.com/news/politics/powergrid/43587

[Demeter]

1. I May Scream

Are there any educated adults in the party--aside from the voters?

What part of GOTV, inclusiveness, "liberty and justice for all" escapes their capacity for understanding?

Why is this election a series of head-banging exercises?

What kind of country is this, anyway? Not the one I grew up in, for sure.

[robbedvoter]

3. Our MSM - at its best!

[robbedvoter]

2. They lost me at the title. Disgusting. That headline right there - reason enough

to get my ass to the poll and vote Hillary.

[bidenista]

4. nasty picture too

But they're right that the Hispanic community is crucial to a GE win, and that Clinton is loved by a lot of Hispanics.

[UALRBSofL]

5. It has a catchy title

:)