Latinos unite behind mystery man Bustamante
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Few know who he is, but many plan to vote for him anyway
Jim Herron Zamora,
San Francisco Chronicle Staff Writer
Friday, August 8, 2003
sfgate.com
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In Oakland's heavily Latino Fruitvale district, there were two main responses to the announcement that Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante is running to replace Gov. Gray Davis in the recall election.
"Cruz who?"
And, "A Latino is running! I'll vote for him!"
The responses in an informal poll Thursday of 35 people on the streets of East Oakland and a few more in San Francisco's Mission District support the theory that Bustamante can energize California's Latino voters -- even those who know little about the candidate.
"I don't know much about him, but I'll probably vote for him," said Rafael Cortez of Oakland. "He seems like a good person, and the politics of this thing are really ugly. It would be great to have a Latino governor."
Carlos Garibotto, an immigrant from Peru who owns a small business in Oakland, added: "This could be our big chance to elect a Latino governor. Something good may come of this crazy recall."
Bustamante, a Democrat, announced Thursday he was seeking to become the first Latino governor since Romualdo Pacheco, who held the governor's office for nine months in 1875.
His overall message is complicated: Bustamante asked voters to oppose the recall yet vote for him in case Davis is ousted.
But one part of his strategy is clear. Bustamante has already aggressively courted the Latino community. He leaked word that he was running to Spanish- language TV stations on Wednesday night, and he conducted a bilingual news conference to officially announce he was running.
"I think Cruz Bustamante makes a very attractive candidate for the Latino community," said Luis Arteaga, executive director of the Latino Issues Forum, a San Francisco think tank. "He was the Spanish-language poster boy for Gray Davis (in 1998 and 2002) in both Spanish-language print and broadcast."
"He has a base of support out there already if he can these voters to the polls," Arteaga said.
Latinos, about a third of the state's population, are on their way to becoming the majority in California, according to the U.S. Census. But very few Latinos vote. About 44 percent are immigrants, including many who never obtained citizenship, and millions of other Latinos are too young to vote.
But in a chaotic recall with more than 500 candidates, Bustamante could win if he can draw Latinos to the polls, said Arteaga and other analysts.
Discussion in Sacramento centered around how Bustamante's entrance into the race may be a death knell for Davis.
In a conference call among Senate Democrats, senators discussed a recent poll that showed Latino Democrats overwhelmingly in favor of the recall -- but many political experts wondered whether enough Latinos would show up on Oct. 7.
With the chance to send the first Latino to the governor's office in 128 years, Latinos may turn out in droves to recall Davis and vote for Bustamante, one senator who was in on the call speculated.
"They would have a motivating factor that would get them out to vote," the senator said.
Many Latinos interviewed Thursday expressed distaste for Davis -- even those who had voted for him earlier. But most confessed they knew little about Bustamante, and some found Arnold Schwarzenegger an attractive option.
"I don't know who Cruz Bustamante is, but I know I'm not voting for Gray Davis. He is awful," said Louisa Padilla of Oakland. "I'm tempted to vote for Arnold Schwarzenegger -- well, maybe not -- I guess I need to start looking at the candidates more closely."
Humberto Sandoval said he generally doesn't like politicians.
"But I would rather have Cruz Bustamante than Gray Davis," said Sandoval, an Oakland resident who immigrated from Mexico in 1949. "And that movie star has a nice smile, but I wouldn't trust him further than I could throw him."
But other Latinos are not getting on the Bustamante bandwagon. Both San Jose Mayor Ron Gonzales and Oakland City Council President Ignacio De La Fuente said Bustamante should have waited.
"He's an opportunist," said Frank Morales, a longtime Mission District activist and former city commissioner. "I don't like it at all that he is running. He's giving voters a reason to support this Republican recall. I wish the Democrats would present a united front."
Pedro Tuyub, the editor of El Tecolote, a twice-monthly Spanish language newspaper in San Francisco, also pointed out that Peter Camejo, a Green Party candidate for governor, was working hard for the Latino vote as well.
"I think it was a big mistake for Cruz to run, but this election is so crazy anything can happen," said Tuyub.
Chronicle staff writer Mark Martin in Sacramento contributed to this report. / E-mail Jim Zamora at jzamora@sfchronicle.com |
