WP: L.A. Blacks Leaning Toward Latino Mayoral Hopeful

[Pirate Smile]

L.A. Blacks Leaning Toward Latino Mayoral Hopeful

By Amy Argetsinger and Kimberly Edds
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, May 15, 2005; Page A07

LOS ANGELES -- If Antonio Villaraigosa wins a runoff election Tuesday to become the first Latino mayor here in modern times, he will likely owe much of his victory to a surprising constituency: black voters.

Surprising because of the long history of unease and mistrust between this fractious city's two largest minority groups -- and a sense, articulated by some African Americans, that political and economic gains by the fast-growing Hispanic community came at the expense of their own.



When Villaraigosa, a Democrat and former state Assembly speaker, made his first run for the job four years ago, he received barely 20 percent of the black vote. Today, though, a wide array of the city's most prominent black leaders have thrown their support to Villaraigosa, and recent polls show African American voters favoring him over incumbent Mayor James K. Hahn, the white Democratic candidate who beat him in 2001.

Some observers are heralding this fledgling coalition as a watershed development in L.A. politics, with implications beyond Election Day.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/14/AR2005051400787.html

[hector459]

1. If they (blacks and Hispanics) ever learn to pull together...look out!

I hope they don't go Republicans.