Thread: Sotomayor Vote Could Impact Fla. Senate Race

Sotomayor Vote Could Impact Fla. Senate Race

Friday, August 7, 2009 5:10 PM

MIAMI -- If there is one place where any bad feelings from the hearings on Sonia Sotomayor's Supreme Court nomination could have lasting consequences, it's Florida, the pesky swing state that the second-largest Puerto Rican community outside the island calls home.

Although Sen. Mel Martinez, who announced Friday that he would leave his seat a year early, broke ranks to vote in favor of Sotomayor and urged fellow Republicans to do likewise, both major GOP candidates to replace him came out against her.

Whether they or other Republicans will pay a price for opposing the nomination of Sotomayor, whose parents are from Puerto Rico, could prove critical in the race to replace Martinez and other statewide campaigns on the horizon.

Hispanics in key swing states overwhelmingly embraced the Democratic Party last year, weakening the argument that the nation's fastest-growing electorate is up for grabs. But observers say Florida could set the tone for how much the Sotomayor vote influences future elections across the country. She was confirmed Thursday 68-31, with only nine Republicans voting in favor.

"Florida is ground zero," said Janet Murguia, head of the nonprofit National Council of La Raza, a liberal-leaning Hispanic group.

Concentrated in central Florida's I-4 corridor _ the amusement park-studded stretch of land from Tampa through Orlando to Daytona Beach _ there are more than 725,000 Puerto Ricans in the state and they have often voted for Republicans, especially in state and local elections. They could play a key role next year in deciding who fills Martinez's seat. The nonprofit Pew Hispanic Center, combining voter registries and census data, estimates Puerto Ricans make up about 4 percent of the state's voters.

"Right now, the Puerto Rican-rich I-4 vote is, without doubt, the most sought after vote in Florida because it is considered a swing vote that can make or break a statewide election," said Republican consultant Ana Navarro. "I can't help but believe this vote and the statements these candidates are making will be a very important factor for the Latino community, and in close races, these factors make a difference."

Charlie Crist, the popular GOP governor who is leading in the polls for Martinez's seat but must still burnish his conservative credentials, said he opposed Sotomayor's record on gun rights, though he had previously tapped a judge to the Florida Supreme Court whom the National Rifle Association opposed.

Martinez, one of only two Hispanic U.S. senators, announced Friday that he would resign now rather than finishing out his term, allowing Crist to appoint a placeholder. Crist said he would not appoint himself.

Marco Rubio, the dynamic former state House speaker and other announced Republican candidate for the seat, also cited the Second Amendment in opposing Sotomayor's nomination. He called her an activist judge because of her statements and record suggesting she would defer to Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court ruling that legalized abortion nationwide.

Rubio, who is Cuban-American, said those who opposed the Sotomayor nomination were unfairly painted as anti-Hispanic.

Opponents are "certainly not going to say it's a principled position," he said.

Like other heavily Hispanic regions around the country, central Florida went for Obama last year, but historically, it has been known as the top swing section of the nation's most notorious swing state.

Puerto Ricans there tend to be more recent arrivals with more business ties and more education than many of their counterparts in New York, home to the mainland's largest community.

Angelette Thillet, who runs an Orlando marketing company and is active in the Republican Party, said she believes most Hispanic voters will be more focused on the economy and health care than the Sotomayor vote.

"People are going to remember this historic moment, rather than that it was a Republican who voted against her _ unless the Democrats use it against them," she said.

Emilio Perez, head of the Puerto Rican Chamber of Commerce of central Florida, agrees the Democratic Party will have to play up the issue to make it stick.

But he said if Rubio wins the primary, it will be harder, given his stance on Sotomayor, for him to attract Hispanic Democrats simply by saying, "I'm Latino, vote for Latino."

Already the candidates have alienated some centrist Democrats like Roland Sanchez-Medina Jr., head of the Cuban American Bar Association. He likes Crist but was disappointed by his Sotomayor vote.

The short-term influence of the vote will likely be harder to identify outside Florida.

The only other senator up for re-election this coming year in a swing state where the Hispanic vote could make a difference is Republican John McCain of Arizona. While some Hispanics were surprised by his decision to vote against Sotomayor, he is generally popular and has long demonstrated a commitment to other Hispanic-related issues like immigration reform and Latin America

Swing states with large Hispanic populations like Colorado and New Mexico already elected Democratic senators in 2008. And in Nevada, Republican John Ensign isn't up for re-election until 2012.

Still, Florida International University Political Science Professor Dario Moreno, who has done polling for Rubio, describes the Sotomayor case as a "micro" version of immigration in that Hispanics will be influenced not simply by the vote but by the tenor of the debate.

"Very few people are going to vote on the Sotomayor nomination," he said, "but this is background noise to how sensitive each of the parties are to concerns of Hispanics."

Source: Associated Press

http://www.newsmax.com/politics/us_soto ... 45412.html

Citizens Only Get to Vote! Remember!

So why is Senator Mel Martinez resigning?

[quote]Mel Martinez of Florida to Resign From U.S. Senate (Update3)

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By Jerry Hart

Aug. 7 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. Senator Mel Martinez of Florida said he will give up his seat, letting fellow Republican Governor Charlie Crist appoint a replacement.

“After nearly 12 years of public service in Florida and Washington, it’s time I return to Florida and my family,â€

Wish that were the case these days, vm, but with motor-voter and the registration of Mickey Mouse, I feel citizens have been shoved aside.

uniteason wrote:

"So why is Senator Mel Martinez resigning?"

Answer:

"Sen. Martinez: I'll Be Working for a Better Cuba

"As a U.S. senator, I have also had a platform to speak against the oppression of the Cuban regime and my hope for a better future for the people of Cuba. I will continue that lifelong passion in the next phase of my life."

http://www.newsmax.com/insidecover/mart ... 45246.html

Maybe he can make it so the Cubans in Florida can all go back home

He is going to be the Immigration Czar, I bet?