Growing Minority Vote Could Expand Battleground
Posted in Main Blog (All Posts) on April 1st, 2011 4:37 am by HL
Growing Minority Vote Could Expand Battleground
Last week’s census data showed that ” the minority share of the population increased over the past decade in every state, reaching levels higher than demographers anticipated almost everywhere, and in the nation as a whole,” National Journal reports.
“If President Obama and Democrats can convert that growth into new voters in 2012, they can get a critical boost in many of the most hotly contested states and also seriously compete for some highly diverse states such as Arizona and Georgia that until now have been reliably red.”
Meanwhile, an interesting chart projects “the percentage of the white vote that President Obama will need to carry an individual state in 2012… The chart shows where the growing minority presence will allow Obama to win states even if he loses support among whites — and where he will need to increase his support from whites to prevail.”
Quote of the Day
“By the way, I do the wiener jokes around here guys and really, like, who is Boehner fooling? What am I, like Anthony Way-ner, what am I? Like I’m serious brother, just embrace it.”
— Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY), performing a roast at the Congressional Correspondents’ Dinner, teasing House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) on the pronunciation of his last name.
Rubio’s Week
Chris Cillizza notes Sen. Marco Rubio’s (R-FL) rapid emergence onto the national political stage this week after staying under the radar for months.
“On Wednesday Rubio penned an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal coming out in opposition to raising the debt limit… Then, late Wednesday came word…that Rubio had penned a letter to Democratic and Republican leaders in the Senate pushing for the chamber to pass a use of force resolution against Libya that had as its stated goal the removal of dictator Moammar Gaddafi.”
Talk of 2012: “Rubio’s decision to step forward on two such high-profile issues as the debt ceiling and Libya — and take positions in opposition to President Obama — will quickly ramp up talk (again) about his potential for national office.”
