EthnicMajority

(USAToday) A record number of Asian Americans are running for Congress next year, reflecting population gains and a growing sense of the need to flex political muscle.

Republican Ranjit "Ricky" Gill has already outraised Democratic incumbent Rep. Jerry McNerney in California's newly configured 9th District. In Illinois, two Democrats — Raja Krishnamoorthi and Tammy Duckworth — are vying in the new 8th District. And two current Asian-American officeholders — U.S. Rep. Mazie Hirono of Hawaii and state Rep. William Tong of Connecticut, both Democrats — are running for U.S. Senate seats.

In all, at least 19 Asian-American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) candidates have declared their bids for Congress so far in the 2012 election cycle, up from eight candidates in 2010.

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(ABC News) President Obama brought his jobs pitch to the Hispanic community tonight, outlining the many ways in which the American Jobs Act would secure a better economic future for Hispanic Americans and urging them to call on Congress “to do the right thing.”

“This fight could not be more important for the people in this room, for the Latino community and for millions of Americans who need help,” Obama said at the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute’s Annual Gala in Washington. “Problems in the Latino community are problems for the entire American community. Our future is tied to how well the Latino community does.

“That’s why last week I asked Congress a simple question: In the face of a national emergency, can we finally put a stop to the political circus and actually do something to help the economy? Can we restore some of the fairness and security that has defined this nation since our founding?” Obama said at the black tie event kicking off Hispanic Heritage Month.

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(Washington Post) Rapid Latino population growth and a smattering of newly created Latino House districts across the country are giving the group a chance to amplify its voice in Congress.

(Washington Post) With House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) announcement Thursday of her three appointees to the bipartisan debt “supercommittee,” the panel’s 12-member roster is complete. It represents a broad range of ideological views, from House Republican Conference Chairman Jeb Hensarling (Tex.) on the right to Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) on the left.

(People's World) Demands to address the country's jobs crisis are accelerating with the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) joining a growing number of groups calling for federal action. The CBC will be hosting a "For the People Jobs Initiative" in several urban areas stricken by high unemployment.

The first stop will be Chicago and will be hosted by Congressman Danny Davis. The date has not yet been announced.

According to The Root, the tour will take the form of a jobs fair along with town hall meetings to focus attention on the challenges faced by job seekers. 

The Congressional Progressive Caucus along with labor groups is also sponsoring public hearings this summer in an effort to help shape the public debate.

Republicans in Congress turned a deaf ear to jobs legislation even before winning a majority in last fall's election. The tea party majority faction instead is fixated on cutting government spending and preventing corporate tax increases.

With African American unemployment twice the national average, the Black Caucus thinks that immediate steps must be taken. The jobs fair component of their For the People Jobs Initiative is aimed at addressing this concern.

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(Huffington Post) A Republican congressional candidate in Nevada is facing criticism from Asian-American groups for his controversial new ad that portrays China taking over the country and a scary army of Asian people marching on the U.S. Capitol.

Mark Amodei, a former chairman of the Nevada Republican Party, was recently picked to be his party's nominee for the 2nd congressional district in the state. Dean Heller held the seat before he was appointed to the U.S. Senate, replacing John Ensign, who resigned in disgrace in May.

Amodei's campaign ad is a fictional news report from the future, with an Asian anchorwoman telling — in heavily accented English — the story of America's downfall.

"Once upon a time, America became its own worst enemy," says the narrator. "When all its borrowed money ran out, they kept spending. Out of control, their President Obama just kept raising the debt limit, and their independence became a new dependence. As their debt grew, our fortune grew. And that's how our great empire rose again."

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(Weekly Standard) There is an under-noticed bright spot for the Republican Party after the recent midterm election: Gains with Hispanic voters and Hispanic politicians.

The numbers are deceptive at first glance. Overall, exit polls show that Hispanic voters nationwide broke a little less than 2-to-1 for Democratic candidates. But the details tell an interesting story. In fact, the numbers point to some opportunities for Republicans.

As several commentators have observed, the 2010 elections saw conservative Hispanics break through to win major offices in New Mexico, Florida and Nevada. Until this year, a conservative Hispanic in public office was likely to be a Cuban-American. In the Congress now stumbling toward its lame-duck finale, four Hispanic Republicans served time – three House members and their fellow Floridian, Sen. Mel Martinez, who retired in August of 2009. All are of Cuban descent.

Onn November 3, the number of Hispanic Republican major officeholders had risen by 150 percent. Of much greater significance, three of those Hispanics were elected to statewide offices, two of them as first-time Hispanic governors of recently blue states. Most important, their ranks include both Mexican-American and Puerto Rican conservatives.

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(BBC News) How does being young, gifted and black square with being a Republican in today’s deep south?

The obvious answer might be that it’s an awkward fit.

But tell that to Tim Scott.

Voters go the polls in South Carolina on Tuesday in a run-off to decide between two Republicans vying for a seat in Congress in November’s mid-term elections.

One of the two, Paul Thurmond, is the son of the state’s legendary congressman, senator, presidential candidate and one-time segregationist Strom Thurmond.

The other, Tim Scott, is a charismatic black state legislator from Charleston who, if elected, would be the first black Republican in Congress for almost a decade and the first from his state in more than a century.

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(LA Times) During Monday’s House Judiciary Committee hearing on Comcast’s proposed takeover of NBC Universal, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) lamented the lack of TV shows aimed at minority viewers in general and black viewers in particular.

“We don’t have any more of that,” Waters said, adding, “I really liked `Girlfriends.’” She was referring to the sitcom about four African American women that ran on the now-defunct UPN network for six years.

GIRLFRIENDS Waters is right. While the casts of most dramas and many sitcoms have grown more diverse over the last decade (this fall, for example, the dual stars of NBC’s most anticipated drama, “Undercovers,” are African American), programs aimed at minority viewers are harder to find on both broadcast and cable television.

Veteran Producer Suzanne de Passe, a former president of Motown Television, offered up her thoughts on the disparity. Noting that it was not that long ago that the broadcast networks had such shows as “Fresh Prince of Bel Air,” “The Cosby Show” and “Living Single,” she laid the blame on media consolidation.

“I have witnessed what consolidation of content and distribution in entertainment and media has done to significantly slow down and diminish opportunity for minority professionals rather than accelerate and increase it,” she said. The networks that used to make shows aimed at blacks “now only offer a minority cast member here and there and a long list of contributions to minority charities under the catch-all word, `diversity,’ ” she testified.

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