The papi chulo of ethnic polling has this to say about today's elections :

"You can expect the majority of Hispanics to show up to vote in New Jersey, where they are more than 10 percent of the electorate," Miami-based [Sergio] Bendixen said.

The border states of Arizona and New Mexico may also see Hispanics influencing the ballots in a year when immigration became a hot political topic.

Arizona was in the center of the immigration debate, and Republican congressional candidate Randy Graf has taken a hardline stance on illegal border crossings in his race against Democrat Gabrielle Giffords.

In neighboring New Mexico, Hispanics could play a key role in deciding whether Republican Rep. Heather Wilson (news, bio, voting record) loses her re-election bid to Democrat Patricia Madrid, the state's Hispanic attorney general.

"Graf could lose to a Democrat with his strong anti-immigrant speech, and in New Mexico, Patricia Madrid may very well take the congressional seat of Wilson," said political analyst Larry Sabato of the University of Virginia.

SWING VOTE IN FLORIDA
Bendixen said Hispanic votes could also play a key role in the Florida governor's race to replace outgoing Republican Gov.
Jeb Bush,
President George W. Bush's brother.

"Based on recent polls, this is going to be a very close race, so Hispanics can be the swing vote," he said.

Source : Reuters via Yahoo!News

I've met Sergio Bendixen and I have to tell you, nobody makes statistics sound sexier than Mr. B.

Last time I spoke with him was at New America Media's Immigration Summit. We discussed the possible impact of our vote in these elections. He basically echoed the statements he made for the quoted Reutersarticle. I kind of disagreed but his numbers still made my heart go pitty-pat.

I believe that for Latinos, the midterms are going to be a dress rehearsal. It's not just Latino advocacy : Many ethnic advocacy groups are watching what the "mainstream" grassroots are accomplishing very, very closely. The feeling is, if the tide will turn to these first wave activists; they will be the proof of concept of what can be accomplished politically with social networking technologies.

The real impact of Latinos, the real smack upside the head to Republicans and Democrats alike will come in 2008. Don't just mark my words : If I can be one of those people who will make it happen, then it shall be.

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