EthnicMajority

(Examiner.com) With the 2012 presidential election less than one year away, all eyes are focused on President Obama and the potential Republican candidates he will be running against. The biggest issue heading into the race is the economy and with positive jobs number's again in January, re-election for President Obama is looking better each month.

One of the biggest supporters of President Obama in 2008 was African-Americans. In 2008, President Obama was able to garner 96% of African-American votes, making up 13% of the electorate. If President Obama wants to win re-election he will have to repeat his support in the African-American community as well as other minorities. African-American unemployment hit a 27 year high this past summer, reaching 16.7%. That number is higher than anyone would like, but there is light at the end of the tunnel. According to the new January jobs report for 2012, African-American unemployment dropped significantly.

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(Washington Post) Once thought to have a potential liability in appealing to Hispanics, Mitt Romney appears to have overcome his doubters.

One of Romney’s more remarkable turnarounds in the Florida primary between 2008 and 2012 was among the state’s many Hispanic voters. While he increased his vote share overall by 12 points, from 31 percent to 43 percent, he increased his performance among Hispanics by 40, from 14 percent in 2008 to 54 percent on Tuesday, according to exit polls.

That’s a pretty huge improvement, but how much does it mean going forward?

In reality, Romney’s tiny share of the Hispanic vote in 2008 seemed to be at least partially about who he was running against, versus any issues Hispanics had with him.

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(Sojourners, Lisa Sharon Harper) During a roundtable chat with a group of emerging young evangelical leaders recently, someone posed the question: “Has America become a post racial society?”

Well, we haven’t had a race riot in a while — does that mean race isn’t relevant anymore?

A black president just gave the State of the Union Address. How about that? Does that mean America’s OK with the race thing?

Our nation is a more ethnically diverse nation than it’s ever been. Does that count for anything?

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(Huffington Post) The battle between Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney for the allegiance of Florida's 450,000 Hispanic Republican primary voters has exposed one of the great myths surrounding the "Latino vote": despite their shared ethnicity, Hispanics are far from monolithic, politically. True, most do generally swing Democratic, but the range of that swing can vary sharply, depending on the candidate and the issues.

President Obama took 67 percent of the Latino vote in 2008, compared with 31 percent for John McCain. However, in 2004 George W. Bush won reelection with a record 44 percent of the Latino vote.

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(Think Progress) On the campaign trail, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich has repeatedly referred to President Obama as a food stamps president. Many have claimed the comment, and others, are dog whistles for “ugly racial stereotypes” and are insulting to African Americans.

This morning, Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC), the highest-ranking African American in the House, told CNN’s Candy Crowley this morning that he would not call Newt Gingrich a racist, but said the presidential candidate has been using language that appeals to those in the GOP who “will see President Obama as different from all other presidents that we’ve had.” Crowley asked if the term “food stamps president” was a racial comment. Clyburn replied that it’s similar to other racially-coded comments that are not explicitly racist.

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(Huffington Post) The Republican Party is beefing up its minority outreach nationwide and preparing to put its rising Latino stars on the campaign trail amid concerns that tough immigration rhetoric in the presidential primary is taking on an increasingly anti-Hispanic tone.

But immigrant-rights groups and some political watchers say the damage may be irreversible. They argue that the GOP has severely hampered itself as it looks to woo the critical Latino voting bloc that could decide who wins key states like New Mexico, Nevada, Colorado and Florida next fall.

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(New York Times) The White House said Tuesday that Cecilia Muñoz, who has led its efforts to overhaul immigration laws, had been named director of the Domestic Policy Council, making her one of President Obama’s chief advisers on a broad swath of issues, including education and gay rights.

Ms. Muñoz, the highest-ranking Hispanic in the White House, had served as director of intergovernmental affairs. She replaces Melody Barnes, who left this month. Her promotion is notable because it comes at the start of an election year in which Hispanic voters are expected to play a major role.

“Over the past three years, Cecilia has been a trusted adviser who has demonstrated sound judgment day in and day out,” Mr. Obama said in a statement. “Cecilia has done an extraordinary job working on behalf of middle-class families, and I’m confident she’ll bring the same unwavering dedication to her new position.”

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(Boston Globe) President Obama is well positioned to repeat his strong performance with Hispanic voters one year before the 2012 election, according to a new Univision News/Latino Decisions poll.

In head-to-head matchups with the top three GOP presidential candidates, Obama holds substantial leads that exceed a two-to-one margin in every case. Latino voters prefer Obama 67 percent to 24 percent over Mitt Romney, 65 percent to 22 percent over Herman Cain, and 68 percent to 21 percent over Rick Perry.

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(Reuters) The taping of the BET Honors, hosted by Black Entertainment Television was held at the historic Warner Theatre in downtown Washington.

It brought out stars including singers Patti LaBelle and queen of soul Aretha Franklin, as well as Washington political figures such as former Secretary of State Colin Powell and U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder.

The politics-meets-glamour event fits in with the recently ramped up efforts by Obama to help her husband, President Barack Obama, win a challenging re-election bid in November.

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(The Blaze) The latest non-controversy surrounding a GOP presidential hopeful involves a moment where Rick Santorum allegedly said, “I don‘t want to make black people’s lives better by giving them someone else’s money.”

As a result of this supposedly “racist” comment, some political pundits at MSNBC are convinced that, whether he meant to or not, Rick Santorum is engaged in a covert Republican operation to “lure…white working class“ voters by using racist ”dog-whistle” politics.

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