Ex-Puerto Rico governor on why Hillary will LOSE PR.

[mckeown1128]

Rafael Hernandez Colon, who addressed a largely Hispanic gathering of 80 people at The Warehouse, said before his speech that Clinton could lose the primary because she endorsed a bill that supports statehood. Ninety percent of Puerto Ricans want a permanent union with the United States, not statehood, he said.

"We are Obama people," he said.

The crowd cheered when he asked how many supported Illinois Sen. Barack Obama.

Hernandez Colon, who has written extensively about the island's relationship to the United States, served as governor from 1973 to 1977 and 1985 to 1993.

http://www.syracuse.com/articles/news/index.ssf?/base/news-13/120729968652651.xml&coll=1


And before the Clinton supporters rush in here giddy to point out that the governor of PR has been indicted.... NO, this is NOT the same governor... This is a respected leader in PR... so don't bother trying to trash him. That being said... I hope this guy is right. Here is a direct quote as to why he thinks it she will lose PR....(posted so that people can't parse the second hand account above)


"That report will probably cost Hillary Clinton the primary in Puerto Rico," Colón said.

http://media.www.dailyorange.com/media/storage/paper522/news/2008/04/04/News/ExGovernor.Discusses.Puerto.Rico.U.s.Relations-3303661-page2.shtml

[Forkboy]

1. Puerto Rico is dead to me.

[HCE SuiGeneris]

19. You are truly on fire tonight.

Love Lula's your quote in the sig line...

:rofl:

[Forkboy]

28. It's quite possibly the funniest thing I've ever read here.

:D

[Catherina]

32. ! Rofl I never noticed until you pointed that out!

:rofl:

[Deja Q]

2. They're the 51st state? I thought India was the last one to be annexed?

:shrug:


:sarcasm:

[babylonsister]

3. I thought PR went from caucuses to a primary AND changed the date

because she had so much support there. What happened?

[mckeown1128]

They went to primaries because they realized...that

caucuses are not possible with the number of people they now expect...(before they thought it would be wrapped well before it reached them) My understanding is that they never really changed their date... it was actually a clerical error at the DNC that had them listed on the wrong date.

[madfloridian]

10. Yes, that is right. From the 7th to the 1st.

.

[Cha]

4. So why did hilary in all her inane wisdom

introduce a bill to make Puerto Rico a state?

[mckeown1128]

5. Got me???

I actually think they should become a state... but since I do not live there so it's not my choice.. I do feel that they should have the continue as is option which Hillary wants to take away.

[Cha]

7. Okay...then why do you want Puerto Rico

to become a state? This is the first I heard it was even a consideration. And, do you know why they don't want to?

[TheDoorbellRang]

9. The article said federal taxes would kill their economy eom

[Colobo]

20. Untrue. A lie of those loyal to the colonial system.

[TheDoorbellRang]

26. I plead complete ignorance,

I was just repeating the reasoning given in the article.
Don't taze me bro! :D

[Cha]

23. Thanks for reading it for me..

I'm tired..

[TheDoorbellRang]

27. LOL. No problem

But evidently, according to katzenkavalier, there's a sizable portion who DO want statehood, so I guess the article is pretty one-sided.

[Colobo]

11. We should become a state. I'm glad that Hernandez Colon is with Obama

but colonialism has got to go. Bring statehood to PR!

[roguevalley]

34. good luck on statehood. we became a state in 1959 and it was

DAMNED hard and not a sure thing. Right now, i wouldn't mind seceding. :)

[quakerboy]

24. I want them to be a state

because they get benifits without taxation.

Also, Im not a huge fan of colonialism. PR isnt the worst, but some of our other territories are in a sorry state, as far as i can tell. Lacking labor laws yet you can make stuff with a "made in the US" label.

I do have a side question to all of this. So far as I am aware, they are not a state, and do not want to be. So.. no Senators, no Congresspeople, and no electoral vote. Why do they have such a large chunk of primary delegates? I mean, my state, a fairly dependable blueish state, and we only get 52+13=65. PR gets 55+8=62. This is a bit of genuine curiosity on my part. I get giving Guam and DA some half votes, the symbolic nature of it being reasonably unobjectionable. But why such a relatively large number for PR?

[Zorro]

6. Please remind me

How many electoral college votes does Puerto Rico have?

[TheDoorbellRang]

8. None. But they DO have 55 juicy pledged delegates up for grabs on June 1

This is the first article I've seen that even hints which way Puerto Ricans are leaning. Good to see they're leaning Obama

[Colobo]

12. Obama will win PR. He has people on both the pro-statehood camp and

the pro-colony camp.

[woolldog]

13. are you puerto rican?

[Colobo]

14. Yes. Born and raised there. Been living here since 2001.

[woolldog]

15. Ah, ok.

I think Obama will win PR too. Nice to know someone with the inside scoop agrees. ;-)

[mckeown1128]

22. Do you feel that if another vote were given...

that (with stay-as-is/commonwealth) as an option... that PR would choose state this time? I am just curious...

[Frank Booth]

31. You're very lucky to live in Puerto Rico.

I just got back from there, and it's one of the nicest places I've ever visited. I loved it.

Based on conversations with locals, I'd say that Obama stands a very good chance. Just about everyone I talked to about politics in PR was supporting Obama (granted, this was much smaller than a representative sample). I think Obama supporters may be in for a pleasant suprise if the primary campaign proceeds as far as PR.

[Catherina]

33. Well there goes that goal post

:rofl:

[TheDoorbellRang]

29. Yay! Good to know!

I've been wondering about Puerto Rico. Heard the current governor was pro-Obama and he just got arrested for fraud, so not sure how to interpret the mood there.

Glad to hear it's still GObama!

[Blondiegrrl]

16. Thanks. That's very encouraging! But why is it that projections are giving PR to Hillary?

I've seen a few scattered projections, and all seem confident that HC will win Puerto Rico. I'm wondering if they have access to some polls I haven't seen. It would be great to see Obama take this one away from her.

[FrenchieCat]

18. Because the media want to think that all Hispanics love Hillary Clinton

for whatever their reasons.

[Colobo]

21. It was assummed that her buddies down there would seal it for her.

Nobody expected Obama to make such an impression down there among the big names in local politics.

[Cha]

25. It's pretty hard not to be

impressed by Obama unless your on clinton agenda.

I really don't know why they would vote for hilary when they have another choice like Obama.

[StevieM]

30. For the same reason lots of people chose Clinton--they disagree with you.

And I'm not impressed by Obama, I think he's just like George W. Bush--maybe worse.

Steve

[Cha]

35. I'm counting on the Puerto Ricans not being

Ostriches. They seem smarter than the average hypocritcal hilary supporter.

[StevieM]

36. Yep, we're all bad people. That's the only reason why we might support her. So I'm sure that

you'll be happy to win without our votes in November. Good luck with that.

Steve

[Cha]

38. Wouldn't expect Ostriches to

actually vote.

[Zachstar]

17. The chances of Clinton winning the nomination slowly fade.

[quantass]

37. interesting