The Coronado Project
Almost 500 years ago, Francisco Vázquez de Coronado led an expedition into the heart of what is now the United States. He explored what are now Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas. The Hispanic presence in the Southwest dates back to these early years of exploration, and the Latino community has continued to grow over the centuries as later generations have followed their own paths of discovery.
In the spirit of the ancestral Hispanics who changed the American West, the Coronado Project calls for a modern sense of mission and trailblazing by advocating a new Democratic electoral political strategy — one that explores the voting potential of Hispanics in the Southwest, the Midwest and the South.
Stuck at the Crossroads: The Latino Vote in 2008
Media reporting and Census-based studies touting the Hispanic vote as the next big thing or a sleeping giant have grown tiresome. Despite overwhelming demographic evidence, few progressive funders and Democratic strategists truly appreciate the depths of the opportunity at hand. Thinking about Hispanics in the context of the future misses the point entirely. The opportunity is clear and present.
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Why Menendez
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A Partisan Perspective on the Pew Hispanic Center Report
"In fact, a modest increase of only 127,014 Hispanic voters properly apportioned in Colorado, New Mexico, and Nevada could have turned the national election in 2004. The problem is not that there are not enough Latinos around to change the political equation; it is that there are not enough who vote."
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Read the Crossroads Memo
"At a time when the nation's demographics are rapidly shifting, our party must change the way it tries to achieve its primary purpose — winning elections. The Villaraigosa victory is simply emblematic of the crossroads at which the party finds itself. One victory does not a future make."
"The party must transcend the false ideological choice of motivating the progressive base of the Democratic Party or continuing to focus solely on white swing voters. We must engage both — voters from communities we claim to represent and those we seek to persuade."