For: Maribel Hastings (*)
Two weeks ago, while the democratic conferee Luis Gutiérrez was speaking about the urgency of advancing the migratory topic in the legislative agenda, I thought about the role that they have played – and in that they have not played - any of the leaders of the Congress, and in how many real Allied Forces it has the migratory cause in the Legislative federal one.
I thought, for example, in that the leader of democratic most of the Senate, Harry Reid, for the reasons that should have been, when less it took plans of integral migratory reform to the Senate although they have not materialized.
I remembered that Laugh he has said publicly that it will take another migratory plan to the Plenary meeting of the Senate after the reforms of health and energy, and also I remembered that Laugh it faces a hard reelection battle in the state of Nevada the next year.
At least publicly it is said that the intention is to approve a migratory reform in 2010, which is also an electoral year. In game there are all the benches of the Lower House and 36 benches of the Senate – including that of Reid - as well as 38 governments and another long list of state or local positions.
There are opinions found about the strategy of Reid in the previous migratory debates or on his real motives for supporting a migratory reform, although the most obvious of them is that it represents the state, Nevada, with one of the Hispanic populations of more rapid growth and where the topic of the reform has big importance between this Latin population.
According to the Hispanic Center Pew, there are more than 605.000 Hispanics in Nevada, which represents almost 25 per cent of the population of the state. Nevada was one of three competitive states (along with Colorado and New Mexico) with the biggest increase of Hispanic voters between 2004 and 2008. In 2004 the Latin Americans were representing 10 per cent of the voters of the state, and for 2008 they were already representing 15 per cent of the voters. |
|
But according to the Hispanic Institute, that it has initiated a campaign of voters' record in Nevada, “it is anticipated that there are 70.000 eligible Latin Americans to vote that they have not registered yet”.
All this means that in elections closed the next year, the Latin vote can be a determinant.
And the electoral panorama for Reid seems complicated, at the moment. A recent opinion poll of opinion of Mason-Dixon places it in disadvantage opposite to two potential republican debaters for his bench: Sue Lowden, the ex-president of the Republican Party of Nevada, and the urbanista Danny Tarkanian.
Several forces operate in his against: his low indexes of popularity joined the low indexes of popularity of the Congress of democratic majority, and also it might affect in his against that Obama loses the favor of the public. In 2008 Obama won in Nevada, the state that the republicans gained in the presidential elections of 2000 and 2004.
Although the circumstances of every election are different, this should serve as reminder to the politicians on the role that the Latin voters played in the general election of 2008, and in the one that they will play in the successive elections. Particularly the immigrant Latin voters who supported the democrats before the promise of a migratory reform.
Without being a bird of bad omen, taking positions, I hope that the migratory topic really is solved before the elections of 2010 because while more time I happened, more risk is of that the politicians to the control keep on losing support or spending capital, or even losing his benches.
And in the Congress let's say that it is necessary to appreciate to the Allied Forces that publicly announce his support to this migratory reform, especially to which in the past they have done much more that to speak.
(*) Senior Advisor de Americás Voice
|
