Leading the Latino GOTV effort

by: Jason Springer

Tue Sep 15, 2009 at 01:15:00 PM EDT

Wally Edge had this over at PNJ yesterday talking about the team leading the Latino GOTV effort for Governor Corzine across the state:

U.S. Senator Robert Menendez (D-Hoboken) is playing a key role in a statewide effort to increase voter turnout among Latino voters for Gov. Jon Corzine's re-election campaign. This weekend, Menendez presided over a meeting in New Brunswick that was attended by over 200 statewide Latino leaders, including U.S. Rep. Albio Sires (D-West New York), State Sen. Teresa Ruiz (D-Newark), Assemblywomen Nilsa Cruz-Perez (D-Camden) and Annette Quijano (D-Elizabeth), Assemblyman Albert Coutinho (D-Newark) and Vincent Prieto (D-Secaucus), Perth Amboy Mayor Wilda Diaz, Paterson Mayor Joey Torres, and Passaic Mayor Alex Blanco.

Many of those leaders endorsed the Governor yesterday and they talked about how significant the Latino vote is in the Garden State:

At full strength, Latinos form 14% of the electorate, according to Patricia Cabrera, Corzine's outreach director. Regardless of Christie's aggressive efforts, the Corzine ally is confident of the governor's ability to pull Latinos come Election Day.
"Latinos composed seven percent of the electorate when McGreevey ran," said Cabrera. "In 2005, that was up to nine percent. Last year, Latinos came out to make up 11 percent of the electorate in New Jersey. We don't anticipate having numbers like that this year, but they will be high, and we anticipate the majority of them voting for Gov. Corzine."

Along with the importance of the healthcare issue, another topic was the 1st Latina Supreme Court Justice and Christie's critique of her:

Everyone from Menendez to Trenton Councilman Manny Segura plugged away, too, at Christie's comments about Sonia Sotomayor, a Supreme Court Justice nominee when Christie pronounced, "She's not my kind of judge."
"If Sotomayor was not good enough for that individual, none of us would be good enough for him," Segura said.

It will be essential for the Governor to see Latino voters turn out in number to help him win on Election day. It's good to see all these leaders across the state aggressively planning their work and working their plan. They'll need that work to show up in the form of results at the ballot box for the Governor.

Jason Springer :: Leading the Latino GOTV effort