Quickly Re. Democratic Primary Race

9:38 PM - After Wisconsin and Hawai’i -- A Quick Post on Democratic Primary Race

I sure I don't have to update you on the primaries in Wisconsin and Hawai'i. The latest national poll now shows Obama with a commanding lead over Clinton (52%-38%). I'm glad my two home states, Virginia and Hawai'i, saw this race as I do. I helped with phone calls and by being a precinct captain in Virginia. The final tally of phone calls made to Virginia turned out to be higher than I though -- 22,000 calls in Spanish, Korean, Chinese, Vietnamese, and English. Hawai'i's vote was rather lopsided, which I hope will put to rest the idiotic and embarrassing rumor that Asian Americans are either too racist, too FOB, or too "against change" to vote for Barack Obama. I was interviewed in this Honolulu Advertiser article pondering if Asian Americans in Hawai'i would vote differently than mainlanders. I predicted yes -- in sum, because Asian Pacific Americans in Hawai'i are accustomed to civic responsibility and political engagement, and that here on the mainland, those who are marginalized or "passive consumers" of politics are most likely to fall back on name recognition to decide between two candidates. Until very recently, name recognition favored the Clintons of course. As this advantage has evaporated, so has Clinton's lead. My point is that just like any other community, Asian Pacific Americans are sometimes too busy worrying about making ends meet to pay careful attention to politics. And, in communities where there is also a language barrier (Asian Am. and Latino) the process of learning about and accepting a new candidate for President can be more gradual.

Last night ( click here for photos) as the returns came in from Wisconsin and Obama gave his Houston speech, singer and filmmaker Andres Useche and I were working on two new videos in Spanish. One is a music video for Andres' new song, "Si se Puede Cambiar." The other was shot in Maryland the day before the Potomic primary. I'll post them here and elsewhere as soon as they're ready.