GOP Looks to Hispanics

The fast-growing Hispanic population in America has also proved a growing political problem for the Republican Party. The GOP's share of the Hispanic vote plummeted after the last Republican Congress's angry debate on immigration reform. That episode, which quickly focused on fence-building and deportations, created a portion of the electorate that now holds the Republican Party in increasing contempt.

Exit polls from the 2004 election show Hispanic voters favored Democratic candidates in Congressional elections by 55%-44% margin. Two years later, that margin more than doubled, with Hispanics favoring Democratic candidates by 62%-37%. In some states, several enforcement-only hardliners lost what had been Republican districts to more moderate Democratic challengers. In Arizona alone, Rep. J.D. Hayworth lost his seat to Democrat Harry Mitchell, while State Senator Gabrielle Giffords, also a Democrat, won an open seat previously held by a senior Republican when she beat an anti-illegal immigration activist.

Who is Funding Joe Garcia's Campaign?

Six days after the media reported that Joe Garcia is hiding the source of over $51,000 in campaign contributions, he still refuses to disclose this information to the public. While he told the Miami Herald he said he would make the list of donors available to anyone who asks, he has yet to make it public. The same questions persist. What is he afraid of? Could it be that, like Joe Garcia, many of these donors live far, far away from Congressional District 25? Are these contributions from outside the United States?

Today Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart continued urging Garcia to come clean:

"The public has a right to know who is funding Joe Garcia's campaign. My campaign submitted the names of every single contributor to the public record. Why does he refuse to do the same? What is he hiding?" said Diaz-Balart.

Diaz-Balart's campaign also submitted over 6,200 signed petitions from District 25 voters requesting that his name appear on the ballot to the Supervisor of Elections. Garcia's campaign failed to get enough voters that would sign a petition on his behalf.