The Latino Agenda

The Republicans Newt Gingrich, at the moment the leading candidate for the Republican nomination for president, risked the wrath of conservatives in his party by offering his own proposal for immigration reform. It includes creating a process for consideration of citizenship for some illegal immigrants, based on a set of criteria including long residency, strong family ties and financial independence. As he no doubt expected, it was dismissed as an “amnesty program” by at least two other candidates, Mitt Romney and Michele Bachmann. But it hasn’t hurt him in the polls yet. The “Disruptive Scenario” The power of the Latino-American vote is amplified by the complex mathematics of the Electoral College system, and the clustering of the Latino-American population in certain key states. According to The Washington Post, Republican strategists have worked out a “disruptive scenario” that relies on the Latino-American vote. If only 40% of Latino-Americans in Colorado, Arizona and Nevada voted for the Republican candidate, it could push those three states, and the entire election, to a GOP victory.