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CNN Live Today

The Latino Vote

Aired February 03, 2004 - 11:18   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: The candidates facing their first significant Latino electorate today in Arizona and New Mexico. Jon Kamman is a political writer for "The Arizona Republic." And we tracked him down in Phoenix this morning. Jon, good morning.
JON KAMMAN, "ARIZONA REPUBLIC": Good morning to you.

KAGAN: Well Arizona getting a lot of respect this time around. You have to look no further that last night. Five of the major candidates showing up for this event which was sponsored by the United Latin-American citizens.

KAMMAN: Well, you hit it on the head. We have a very large Latino population here, one-fourth of the state is of Hispanic ancestry. And it's a very important constituency to all of the candidates.

KAGAN: How significant is the Latino vote in Arizona and also in neighboring New Mexico?

KAMMAN: Well, as I said, it's a very high proportion of the population. The turnout is part of the question. Hispanics have traditionally not shown up too much to vote, even though they're registered.

I don't know that it's going to make that much difference in the election, though. John Kerry is well ahead. The person that it will make the most difference to is Senator Lieberman, who has tried very hard to hit all of the corners of the state and has not really gained any traction here.

KAGAN: Well it seems like the only traction he has gained, your own paper, "The Arizona Republic" did endorse him. Is that not right?

KAMMAN: That's correct. And he's a very good man. But I don't think the electorate in general is about ready to go for him.

KAGAN: Arizona has a fascinating political history. I'm sure you have a great job, whether you talking about Barry Goldwater coming from Arizona, the days of Evan Mecham.

In terms of how the presidential race turns to -- tends to spin out, though, how does Arizona play into that?

KAMMAN: Well, for 50 years, nearly, Arizona did not go for a Democratic candidate in the presidential race. Bill Clinton carried it in 1996. We're a lot more important this year than anyone really would suspect. We have 55 delegates to the national convention and 10 electoral votes, which puts us on par as Maryland, Wisconsin, and Minnesota, and almost equal to Missouri.

KAGAN: And is that part of just a general population trend of people moving west and moving to sunnier places?

KAMMAN: Very much so. It's also a reflection of foreign immigration. We -- we're now the 18th largest state in the nation. And that comes as a surprise to an awful lot of people. Phoenix is the fifth largest city.

KAGAN: Something that's becoming a rarer and rarer breed, a Democratic governor, Janet Napolitano.

KAMMAN: She pulled it out of the hat. She was a very popular lady as attorney general of the state. And even though we are a Republican state in registration, she did well in the election two years ago.

KAGAN: Want to bring it back to the discussion of the Latino vote because you do see the candidate on the stump, trying to appeal to Latino voters out there. Let's just listen to a little bit of sound.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HOWARD DEAN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: (speaking in Spanish)

WESLEY CLARK (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: (speaking in Spanish)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: Sometimes funny, sometimes kind of painful to listen to that. Does that go over well with the voters, or is it considered pandering and they really want the candidates to talk to issues that really affect them?

KAMMAN: Well if they speak Spanish with a great deal of facility, it goes over nicely. I'm afraid it is painful and patronizing to some of the candidates if it is not more than a few words. It's a sophisticated Hispanic audience now.

KAGAN: And one final question about that. Isn't it kind of a misnomer to think that you can look at the Hispanic or Latino vote as a block? That this is a varied population and some are going to go conservative and some are going to go more liberal?

KAMMAN: In many respects, the Hispanic population is more conservative than the Anglo population. The issues are a little bit different. Immigration is an big issue. But even there, the Hispanic vote is divided between those who think there should be amnesty for undocumented workers who are in the country and those who think no, it shouldn't be any different from -- for those, from any other immigration. KAGAN: Jon Kamman with "The Arizona Republic" joining us from studios at KTNX. I'm sure you have a long but fascinating day ahead of you with the primary in Arizona. Thank you for joining us.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired February 3, 2004 - 11:18   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: The candidates facing their first significant Latino electorate today in Arizona and New Mexico. Jon Kamman is a political writer for "The Arizona Republic." And we tracked him down in Phoenix this morning. Jon, good morning.
JON KAMMAN, "ARIZONA REPUBLIC": Good morning to you.

KAGAN: Well Arizona getting a lot of respect this time around. You have to look no further that last night. Five of the major candidates showing up for this event which was sponsored by the United Latin-American citizens.

KAMMAN: Well, you hit it on the head. We have a very large Latino population here, one-fourth of the state is of Hispanic ancestry. And it's a very important constituency to all of the candidates.

KAGAN: How significant is the Latino vote in Arizona and also in neighboring New Mexico?

KAMMAN: Well, as I said, it's a very high proportion of the population. The turnout is part of the question. Hispanics have traditionally not shown up too much to vote, even though they're registered.

I don't know that it's going to make that much difference in the election, though. John Kerry is well ahead. The person that it will make the most difference to is Senator Lieberman, who has tried very hard to hit all of the corners of the state and has not really gained any traction here.

KAGAN: Well it seems like the only traction he has gained, your own paper, "The Arizona Republic" did endorse him. Is that not right?

KAMMAN: That's correct. And he's a very good man. But I don't think the electorate in general is about ready to go for him.

KAGAN: Arizona has a fascinating political history. I'm sure you have a great job, whether you talking about Barry Goldwater coming from Arizona, the days of Evan Mecham.

In terms of how the presidential race turns to -- tends to spin out, though, how does Arizona play into that?

KAMMAN: Well, for 50 years, nearly, Arizona did not go for a Democratic candidate in the presidential race. Bill Clinton carried it in 1996. We're a lot more important this year than anyone really would suspect. We have 55 delegates to the national convention and 10 electoral votes, which puts us on par as Maryland, Wisconsin, and Minnesota, and almost equal to Missouri.

KAGAN: And is that part of just a general population trend of people moving west and moving to sunnier places?

KAMMAN: Very much so. It's also a reflection of foreign immigration. We -- we're now the 18th largest state in the nation. And that comes as a surprise to an awful lot of people. Phoenix is the fifth largest city.

KAGAN: Something that's becoming a rarer and rarer breed, a Democratic governor, Janet Napolitano.

KAMMAN: She pulled it out of the hat. She was a very popular lady as attorney general of the state. And even though we are a Republican state in registration, she did well in the election two years ago.

KAGAN: Want to bring it back to the discussion of the Latino vote because you do see the candidate on the stump, trying to appeal to Latino voters out there. Let's just listen to a little bit of sound.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HOWARD DEAN (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: (speaking in Spanish)

WESLEY CLARK (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: (speaking in Spanish)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: Sometimes funny, sometimes kind of painful to listen to that. Does that go over well with the voters, or is it considered pandering and they really want the candidates to talk to issues that really affect them?

KAMMAN: Well if they speak Spanish with a great deal of facility, it goes over nicely. I'm afraid it is painful and patronizing to some of the candidates if it is not more than a few words. It's a sophisticated Hispanic audience now.

KAGAN: And one final question about that. Isn't it kind of a misnomer to think that you can look at the Hispanic or Latino vote as a block? That this is a varied population and some are going to go conservative and some are going to go more liberal?

KAMMAN: In many respects, the Hispanic population is more conservative than the Anglo population. The issues are a little bit different. Immigration is an big issue. But even there, the Hispanic vote is divided between those who think there should be amnesty for undocumented workers who are in the country and those who think no, it shouldn't be any different from -- for those, from any other immigration. KAGAN: Jon Kamman with "The Arizona Republic" joining us from studios at KTNX. I'm sure you have a long but fascinating day ahead of you with the primary in Arizona. Thank you for joining us.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com