I’m feeling pretty clueless because I had never heard of Julian Castro when I learned that he will be delivering the keynote address at the Democratic National Convention. He is a graduate of Stanford and Harvard Law who is serving his second term as mayor of San Antonio, Texas. An interesting biographical note is that he has an identical twin brother who went to Stanford and Harvard, too. In his last election, Mayor Castro was reelected with 83% of the vote. He’s also young. He was born in 1974.
We all remember that Barack Obama was the keynote speaker at the 2004 Convention, and we know how that turned out.
Regardless of what this means for the political future of Julian Castro, his selection is an honor for the Latino community. The Republicans will almost certainly highlight Florida Senator Marco Rubio at their convention. However, that seems to be the extent of their Latino outreach. And it is showing in the polls:
New polling data out from the firm Latino Decisions today finds that President Obama still has a huge advantage among Hispanic voters around the country.
Across five swing states with large Hispanic populations — Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Nevada and Virginia — Obama leads Mitt Romney 63-27 among Hispanic voters. The gap is even more pronounced in a handful of those states: Obama’s ahead by 52 points in Arizona, for example, and by 48 points in Colorado. It’s a closer race in Florida, though, with Obama taking 53 percent of Hispanic voters compared with Romney’s 37 percent.
If anything, Mayor Castro is going to help make those numbers grow. I’m excited to see him perform.
Does anyone know more about Mayor Castro?
Obama leads Mitt Romney 63-27 among Hispanic voters.
27… 27… where have I seen that number before?
don’t know anything about him, but I hope he kills his speech.
Who’s Julian Castro? He’s the guy who gets the White House if he delivers the Texas Governor’s Mansion.
Yep, he would be the best dem candidate for gov. since Bush.
And what’s the shape of the Democratic Party in Texas? it seems they gave up trying in the late 60’s just like a lot of the ones in the South and lower Midwest did, and have been riding on the last remaining goodwill since.
Texas Democrats didn’t give up trying until the defeat of Anne Richards.
Throughout the South, Democrats held their own until the Reagan years, in which the Dixiecrats could come out of hiding and be Reagan (and Helms) Democrats and then Republicans.
Progressive Democrats however have been walloped by the Blue Dog Caucus and then by the DLC New Democrats. And those two in turn by being “me too” have been ousted by “real Republicans”.
Rush Limbaugh and Fox News have made it very hard turf for Democrats to be competitive, and when Howard Dean started his 50-state strategy he found several state parties to be essentially buried by the state power structure with a guy or two assigned to keep it buried. That changed, but Dean’s leaving DNC allowed Kaine to scuttle the 50-state strategy.
All I know is that he’s a big-city mayor.
It’s good to see the Democrats recognizing their urban* base.
*Actually used here to mean “urban, relating to cities.” I know, what a concept!
Is he a New Dem? Member of Third Way? And I wonder how long it’ll be before the GOPers claim he’s relatives with Fidel, or other stupidity.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/09/magazine/09Mayor-t.html?_r=1
Julián Castro is the son of Rosie Castro, a well-known ’70s firebrand who was among the leaders of La Raza Unida, the radical movement in Texas that was dedicated to defending the civil rights of Mexican-Americans and promoting a strong “Chicano” identity. One of Castro’s first acts as mayor was to hang a 1971 La Raza Unida City Council campaign poster, featuring his mother, in his private office. But this was a gesture of filial loyalty, not of ideological solidarity. A Democrat, Castro is a pragmatist, sometimes unpredictably so. He supports free trade, including the North American Free Trade Agreement, advocates an energy policy that includes fossil fuels, believes in balanced budgets and refers to David Souter as his ideal Supreme Court justice. Like a large plurality of his fellow San Antonians, Castro is a Roman Catholic, but he was the first San Antonio mayor to be grand marshal when he marched in the annual gay rights parade, and he is pro-choice. “We disagree on this, the pope and I,” he says with a smile.
The Obama joke in that article is cringeworthy. The sycophancy.
Sounds like a standard New Dem.
Well, to be fair, that’s the New Dem-est section.
He mostly sounds very young and very ambitious.
Anyone know what, if any, kind of relationship Mayor Castro has had with COPS/Metro Alliance? (One of the IAF organizations still around.)
IOW an apple that didn’t fall very close to the tree but not as far from it as Evan Bayh did. Might still put him to the left of the majority of Democrats in DC.
This could seal the deal for Obama in NV and CO — not that I think either state is all that vulnerable. More importantly, it continues the narrative that Obama started with his appointment of Sotomayor. GWB elevated Alberto Gonzales and Obama championed Sotomayor. Which one makes Latino communities prouder? The GOP and Romney answer to Latino communities has been Rubio with apparently zero recognition that anti-Fidel Castro Cuban-Americans don’t have much in common with the much larger and wider Latino communities.
Seems the TX progressives over at ‘The Agonist’ are less than impressed with the choice of Castro. One mention was that for one engagement (at least) he sent his twin brother to appear in his stead…. hope he doesn’t duck out of the Dem Convention similarly
Julian is not a fire breathing liberal but he is a good Democrat. He lost his first run for Mayor of San Antonio against Phil Hardberger, a popular progressive who was term limited next time in which Julian ran and walked away with it.
His twin brother is Joaquin who is in the Texas House and is running for Charlie Gonzalez old seat which used to be Henry B. Gonzalez seat.
One piece of trivia, Julian sent Joaquin to cover for him in a parade he was suppose to be in and they were discovered which led to a minor embarassment.
I am not sure what Julian’s next step will be after Mayor as it is extremely difficult to get elected to statewide office in Texas as a Democrat.
Hell, today David Dewhurst the conservative Lt. Governor is likely going down in defeat to tea party kook Ted Cruz.
Juanita Jean likes him.
http://juanitajean.com
Here’s an impressive video of him speaking without notes or teleprompter. He’s truly a brilliant pol. And his economic & education record in San Antonio has been stellar:
http://youtu.be/rCy4WoTrMmc