SUNDAY, APRIL 11, 2010
POLITICS THE NATION
Some Hispanics wavering on Obama
&
Support in 2008 turns to concern over little action on immigration
by Sandhya Somashekhar
aurora, colo. — Maria Gar-
cia can rattle off a dozen things that are more important to her than politics. Her sky-high mort- gage payments, for instance. The convenience store she owns, which isn’t making money. And, at this moment, the chili peppers toasting in the store’s kitchen. “I don’t have time to think about politics,” she said, rubbing her eyes amid the caustic fumes. “Ten years ago, I was doing good. But right now, when you have all these problems, you feel lazy. You can’t do anything. Sometimes, it’s better that you have nothing be- cause you just have to make mon- ey to eat and to pay rent.” Garcia was among the 61 per- cent of Hispanic voters in Colo- rado who turned out in 2008 to vote for Barack Obama. But her political disengagement now hints at the difficulty Democrats face in rallying their core constit- uencies ahead of the November midterm elections. Among Hispanics, one concern
often voiced is that Obama has not moved quickly on changing immigration law. He campaigned on the issue two years ago, but he and his party appear hesitant to take on such a contentious issue soon after the battle over health- care legislation. Immigrant advocacy groups
have ratcheted up the pressure on lawmakers, saying they risk losing the support of Hispanic voters if they do not establish a way for the 12 million people thought to be in the United States illegally to achieve legal status. They say there could be political consequences in swing states such as Colorado, where Hispan- ics made up 13 percent of the electorate in 2008. A measure that would have cre-
ated a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants contributed to the downfall of a 2007 bipartisan effort in Congress to remake the immigration system. But activists argue that disconnected voters such as Garcia might be motivat- ed to go to the polls this year if lawmakers appeared poised to take up the issue again. Indeed, Garcia perks up when the topic of immigration is raised, saying that from her own experi- ence, she feels a strong kinship with those living and working here without papers. A block from Garcia’s store, East Colfax Avenue echoes other suburban streets where immi- grant-owned businesses have flowered: lined with faded strip
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Carmelita Benitez, left, shown at a Denver protest, said she is optimistic about immigration law.
es anything that resembles am- nesty. Standley says the commu- nity has been overrun with illegal immigrants; as evidence, he points to what he sees in his job as a manager at a Family Dollar store.
“If they’re paying by credit card, I ask for an ID. Then they hand me a Mexico ID, and I say, ‘Oh no, no, no,’ ” Standley said. He is also bothered by some of his customers’ desire to speak to him in Spanish. “I can speak it; I just don’t like to,” he said. The economy is paramount for
Restaurant owner Juan Luevanos said he voted for Obama in 2008, but now “I’m fifty-fifty on him. He doesn’t keep his promises.”
malls, enlivened by stores selling quinceañera dresses and Sponge- Bob SquarePants piñatas. There are hints of an underground economy as well: check-cashing stores, pawnshops and street-cor- ner car dealerships that do not check credit. “The Mexican people here need help,” said Juan Luevanos, whose Mexican restaurant, Real de Minas, on this street is named for the Zacatecas mines where his family once worked. He thinks that giving illegal immigrants a path to legalized status would re- duce crime and offer a measure of stability to a community in which many people carry fake IDs and cannot dream of buying a home. An avowed Democrat, he shrugs when asked if he’ll stick by his party this fall. He voted for Obama in 2008 but now says: “I’m fifty-fifty on him. He doesn’t keep his promises.”
The desire among Colorado’s
Hispanics for immigration-law changes is not limited to Demo- crats. Republican Diedra Garcia, president of DRG Construction in nearby Lakewood, said offering a path to legalization makes good conservative sense. “I believe [immigrants] are serving a clear economic need,” Garcia said. “We need those resources, and with- out them I shudder to think what would happen to our economy.” That position puts her at odds with her party’s most vocal strains, a divide that highlights the potentially toxic nature of the debate for many politicians. Kelly Standley, a coordinator of one of Colorado’s “tea party” groups, also lives in Aurora. The highly motivated tea party move- ment nationally is pushing candi- dates to take more-conservative stands on a variety of issues, in- cluding immigration, and oppos-
Maria Garcia. Once prosperous, she bought two homes and the commercial building where she recently opened Florence Mini Mart.
But the mortgages on the homes are now larger than the houses’ value. In hopes of afford- ing the monthly payments, she rented out the homes and moved into an office in the largely vacant commercial building. Her daugh- ters moved in with their father, unwilling to live in the empty of- fice, she said. Her savings are drained, and she is contemplat- ing foreclosure.
Garcia said she thinks that new
immigration laws would bring prosperity to the community by allowing many more people to buy homes and would reward those who have lived and worked in the shadows. “Some people have been here a
very long time, paying taxes,” she said.
About Obama, she said: “May- be he will do something, because he’s getting a lot of pressure. But I don’t know. I can’t worry about it right now.”
somashekhars@washpost.com
Steele urges GOP to not let errors be distractions
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Chairman calls for party members to focus on return to power
by Amy Gardner
new orleans — Michael S.
Steele, the embattled chairman of the Republican National Com- mittee, ended a three-day GOP pep rally with a subdued speech in which he acknowledged mis- takes but cautioned against al- lowing opponents to use those er- rors as distractions during a mid- term election year. Democrats, he said, would
“love nothing more than for us to keep pointing fingers at me and others instead of their radical, un-American agenda. We shouldn’t fall for that trap.” “I’m the first here to admit I’ve made mistakes,” Steele told a dwindling crowd at the end of the Southern Republican Leadership Conference. “It’s been incumbent on me to take responsibility, shoulder that burden, make the necessary changes and move on.” The audience applauded po-
litely, and Steele added, “But the one mistake we cannot make this November is to lose.” Steele was referring to a series of headline-grabbing missteps at the RNC, most recently a nearly- $2,000 expenditure at a sex- themed nightclub in Hollywood. Some Republicans have also ac- cused Steele of spending lavishly and of promoting himself at the expense of the party. But like the roster of big- named Republicans who spoke earlier at the conference, includ- ing Sarah Palin, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, Rep. Ron Paul (Tex.), Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jin-
an undercurrent. Some Repub- licans spoke of the “distractions” of recent gaffes at the RNC. Speaking Friday, Jindal even made a joke at Steele’s expense: “A word of warning to RNC staff- ers,” he said. “You may want to stay away from Bourbon Street.” Barbour, a former RNC chair- man and now the chairman of the Republican Governors Associa- tion, said in an interview that other Republican groups would be able to step in and do the job of raising money and electing can- didates this year if the RNC is un- able to do so. The controversies at the RNC
“won’t be material, he said, “be- cause with several months be- tween now and the elections, the other committees can prepare if the RNC doesn’t do as much as they usually do.”
Barbour also said that he
doesn’t think Steele should step down — and that he doesn’t think he will.
GERALD HERBERT/ASSOCIATED PRESS
“The one mistake we cannot make this November is to lose,” Republican National Committee Chairman Michael S. Steele told the Southern Republican Leadership Conference in New Orleans.
dal and Newt Gingrich, Steele spent most of his time issuing blistering attacks on President Obama and the Democratic-con- trolled Congress. And he urged the audience to work hard to re- turn Republicans to power in No- vember. “I’ll tell you how to get our
country back, folks,” Steele said. “Fire Nancy Pelosi. And I’ll tell you how to repeal and replace the government-run health care they just put on us. Fire Harry Reid.” In past years, the Southern Re- publican Leadership Conference has served as an early coming-out party for potential presidential contenders, and this year it at-
tracted its share. In a presidential straw poll Saturday, former Mas- sachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who did not attend, edged out Paul by a single vote. Each man collected about 24 percent of more than 1,800 ballots cast for nine prospective candidates. “Is that not incredible?” said
David French, a leader of Evan- gelicals for Mitt. “Our guy wasn’t even here!”
But most of the rhetoric and
energy at the conference was tar- geted at 2010 rather than 2012, with all eyes focused squarely on harnessing grass-roots energy and anger at Washington. Yet Steele’s troubles remained
Some good news for Steele that
emerged during the conference was an open letter in support of him signed by the Republican Party chairmen from 29 states, plus the District of Columbia and Guam.
And a number of Republican
activists who attended the pro- gram said Steele’s travails are less relevant than the energy and en- thusiasm that the conference helped stir up in advance of the fall elections. “It’s probably not going away,”
said Frank Scalia, a retiree from Monroe, La., who was attending the conference with his wife, Ma- rilou. “I know that he has to be a good steward of the finances. But I think Michael Steele is a good man, and we’re very fortunate to have him.”
gardnera@washpost.com
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