Texas Open Primary Season

By Patricio J. Salinas

Last week’s debate between Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton at The University of Texas at Austin was the second time both candidates have faced off in this unpredictable presidential primary.

After having lost ten consecutive states, the pressure and weariness on Clinton’s face was visible. As for the recent winner, Obama displayed a diplomatic, confident persona stemming from a victorious momentum. Issues discussed ranged from health care, the wars overseas, the economy and immigration, a more prominent issue in this border state.

With proven strength in Hispanic support, Clinton emphasized her ties to Texas by reminding viewers that her first political gig was registering voters in South Texas in 1972; however, she did not directly identify the registered voters as Hispanics. Perhaps Clinton did not want to publicly pander to Hispanics since political pundits have voiced that she must carry the Hispanic vote overwhelmingly in Texas if she intends to be another “comeback kid.”

With Spanish-language network Univision co-sponsoring the debate, close to one-third of the issues raised centered on immigration. Once the topic surfaced, both candidates attempted to demonstrate compassion for those personally affected by the issue.

Clinton appealed to immigrant children separated from their parents after illegal immigration raids. She supports a guest-worker program and exacting penalties against employers hiring undocumented workers. These proposals were legislated last year to negative results. Howe­ver, Clinton stated that undocumented workers must pay back taxes and learn English. Obama concurred with Clinton on the immigration issue, but his appeal was slightly different - he more assertively responded by saying “tone down the rhetoric.”

Obama believes anti-immigrant talk has been an ugly treatment towards the Hispanic community and has lead to discrimination based on Spanish surnames. Furthermore, Obama criticized the Bush administration by mentioning that our country must foster better relations with Mexico, even though the current President already supports a guest worker program.

After positioning themselves on the issue, they where then confronted with their senatorial votes approving construction and financing of a border wall between the U.S. and Mexico. The question was somewhat unwelcoming for them because of the common misconception that only Republicans are associated with border wall plans. Both candidates agreed a wall should be built, albeit in localized areas and only after local communities’ input.

Clinton and Obama stated that an increased use of technology (cameras) should be considered since a physical wall does have the potential of discomforting riparian residents. For instance, Clinton stated that it was absurd to divide the campus of The University of Texas at Brownsville with a wall.

Diverting attention away from his voting record, Obama mentioned his support for the DREAM act, which would give illegal immigrant youths access to educational financial aid. Obama pointed out that this legislative initiative could reduce the stigma of second-class citizenship and allow those affected to achieve greater success.

As the statements on immigration were concluded, it was agreed by both that every immigrant needs to learn the unifying language of English, while personally encouraging every American to learn a foreign language. Obama revealed that he believes in bi-lingual education because some students might feel more comfortable learning in their native language.

Apart from a question concerning the retirement of Cuban President Fidel Castro, the remainder of the debate centered on more general topics such as the war in Iraq. Both candidates opined that the surge in troops was effective but that it is insignificant to the overall strategic and tactical operations of the Bush administration. Interestingly enough, neither candidate singled out the involvement of Hispanic soldiers during this portion of the debate, even though they constitute a large portion of U.S. active troop strength in Iraq.

As the primaries come to a close, Clinton must win in the state of Texas in order to continue as a true contender and achieve the 2,025 delegates necessary to clinch the nomination in late August. At the current pace neither candidate can win the nomination with few delegates left in remaining states. If Clinton loses Texas she might have to concede to the national media, who have already designated Obama as their choice for president.

Clinton could sweep the border, get a majority of the Hispanic vote and win the popular vote, but still obtain fewer delegates than Obama. Based on Texas Democratic rules, more delegates are awarded to districts that vote in greater numbers. This leaves Clinton in a conundrum because her presumptive Hispanic base does not vote sufficiently enough in comparison to more diverse and metropolitan areas of the state (South Texas’ electoral environment is primarily a single party system, there is no incentive to vote in November).

As for Obama’s chances, he has a good shot of winning Texas for two principal reasons: one, because of proportional delegates in metro areas (aided by the hiring of James Aldrete, a savvy Democratic consultant specializing attracting Hispanic votes), and two, because Republicans will vote against Clinton in the Democratic primary.

Based on the odds against Clinton, it appeared that she may have prematurely thrown in the towel as the close of the debate telling Obama that she was honored to be competing with him - an expression that carried an emotion of relief normally expressed at the very end of a primary season.

Center Conference a Big Success

Our inaugural conference entitled "Assessing the State of Spanish Language Media" was held on the University of North Texas campus November 8-10. We had about 40 people in attendance throughout the event, including guests from the countries of Mexico, Colombia, Chile, Spain and Venezuela. We had scholars, news media, and some industry professionals.

Our keynote speaker was Dr. Felipe Korzenny of Florida State University, where he serves as Director of the Center for Hispanic Communication and Marketing. Felipe gave a powerful presentation on the Hispanic consumer in the U. S., and the challenges and opportunities in marketing to this rapidly growing demographic group.

We will have the power point presentations from the conference posted on the Center's website at http://www.spanishmedia.unt.edu

Welcome to the CSLM Blog

The Center for Spanish Language Media at the University of North Texas now has a blog, located at this site. What will you expect to find on this blog? News and information about what we do at the Center, and commentary on the rapidly growing Spanish Language Media in the United States.

Our goal is to be a resource for students, scholars and practitioners, and we welcome your thoughts, suggestions and feedback as we move forward.

Be sure and visit the Center's web site at http://www.spanishmedia.unt.edu