NDN Blog

The Center for American Progress has a very interesting piece on "immigration experts" whose past commentary would discredit their views if the media did its research. CAP reminds us all of the need to know who your source is, especially when dealing with an issue like immigration:

As long as leading mainstream media sources give voice to these organizations without explaining who they really are, the American public will not be fully informed. Motives of those presenting ideas matter for all of us as we think through issues. The mainstream press has failed to set the context and is thus misshaping the immigration debate. And, the mainstream national press often influences with its coverage the kind of reporting given to a topic by local newspapers in communities across the country.

Because of the failure by Congress to pass comprehensive national immigration reform, increasingly towns, cities, and states are becoming hosts to the immigration debate. Through its legal arm, the Immigration Reform Law Institute, FAIR is already promulgating anti-immigrant local ordinances, such as one in Prince William County, Virginia. At the same time, locally based pro-immigration organizations are reaching out to support integrating immigrants, with efforts including English language instruction and building bridges between immigrants and local police departments.

As these issues are debated in city councils, state houses, and across dining room tables, we need to ensure that Americans are getting honest facts from reputable organizations. This includes requiring the press to open the closet and look at some of the filth inside. It's really not that hard to do.

- Hillary Clinton is promoting her Health Care plan - American Health Choices Plan - in a new ad.

- According to the Arizona Republic, John McCain, whose "No Surrender" tour wraps up today, is "on the rise." This article comes after McCain lost his endorsement of Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox.

- Barack Obama, fresh off speeches to Wall Street and the SEIU's Member Political Action Convention, delivered his tax plan today in Washington, DC.

- According to the Decatur Daily, Fred Thompson is off to a good start in Alabama.

- Senator Chris Dodd, who also addressed SEIU, honored Constitution Day by introducing an Amendment to the Defense Authorization bill. The Leahy-Specter-Dodd Amendment will restore habeas corpus, a major point of focus of Dodd's campaign.

- Mitt Romney released a new radio ad today entitled "Traditional." Un-related Mitt news: Romney issued a statement regarding Chile's Independence Day. The statement, which falls during Hispanic Heritage Month, praises the U.S.-Chile free trade agreement. (Note: Craig Romney, Mitt Romney's son, lived in Chile and speaks fluent Spanish.)

- John Edwards's campaign took a shot at Hillary Clinton in an e-mail to supporters today. The e-mail calls an upcoming fundraiser Clinton is hosting the "poster child" for what is wrong with Washington.

- Mike Huckabee won the first straw poll conducted at the Values Voter debate in Florida.

- Joe Biden has received validation on his views on Iraq. First, Congressman Adam Putnam (R-FL) praised Biden's plan for a Federal Iraq. Second, Dan Balz from the Washington Post gave Biden a nod on his commentary on Iraq.

- Rudy Giuliani launched a new radio ad entitled "Nightmare" that will run in Iowa. The ad is in response to MoveOn's ad, "Rudy Giuliani: Betrayal of Trust." Listen to Nightmare on PrezVid. 

- Thanks to AdAge for giving us this amazing quote from Bill Richardson on the spying of the New England Patriots:

"The President has been allowed to spy on Americans without a warrant, and our U.S. Senate is letting it continue. You know something is wrong when the New England Patriots face stiffer penalties for spying on innocent Americans than Dick Cheney and George Bush."

For more information on NDN's coverage of the 2008 Presidential election, click here.

In today's Miami Herald, Andres Oppenheimer takes an honest look at this past weekend's Univision Democratic Presidential Candidate forum. In "The Oppenheimer Report", he declared the forum "the clearest evidence yet of a growing Hispanic clout that will revolutionize American politics." From the article:

I'm not exaggerating: the debate among Democratic hopefuls organized by Univisión and the University of Miami averaged 2.2 million viewers -- an extraordinary audience for a debate that was broadcast in Spanish for an ethnic group that makes up 13 percent of the U.S. population. By comparison, the CNN-YouTube Democratic debate averaged 2.6 million viewers.

What's more, while the average age of viewers of Univisión's debate was 36, the average age of the English-language debates on ABC, CNN, Fox News and MSNBC viewers was 61.

"It was a tipping point in American political culture," says Simon Rosenberg, president of the New Democrat Network, a progressive think tank that advises Democrats on Hispanic issues. "This debate outperformed Univisión's wildest dreams."

...

But the fact is that this first Spanish-language debate sets a precedent that will be hard to ignore for Republicans, and for both parties in future presidential campaigns. And it comes after several signs of a growing Hispanic political clout. 

For more information check out NDN's new study, data from which is used in Oppenheimer's piece.

In response to the Petraeus/Crocker hearings, our good friends Kenneth Baer and Andrei Cherny over at Democracy are holding an important event worth checking out. To RSVP, call Democracy at 202-263-4382, or send an email to rsvp@democracyjournal.org. Further details are below:

General Petraeus' report to Congress and the current discussion about Iraq are focused on how many troops are deployed there, how effective they are, and when they're coming home. But what's missing from the popular debate is a discussion of what comes next. Once there is a significant drawdown of U.S. forces in Iraq, what should American strategy be in the Middle East?

In its fall issue released September 10, Democracy: A Journal of Ideas brings together an unprecedented collection of thirteen of the top progressive foreign policy thinkers writing on the critical topic: "What the U.S. should do once it leaves Iraq." Three of the authors will join us to discuss the future of American foreign policy in the Middle East. They are:

Will Marshall, president of the Progressive Policy Institute and editor of With All Our Might: A Progressive Strategy for Defeating Jihadism and Defending Liberty.
Jessica Tuchman Mathews, president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Ray Takeyh, senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and author of Hidden Iran: Paradox and Power in the Islamic Republic.

Kenneth Baer, co-editor of Democracy: A Journal of Ideas, will moderate the panel.

The panelists will take audience questions as part of the discussion.

A light breakfast will be served.

Monday, September 17, 2007
9:30 AM - 11 AM

The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
The Root Room
1779 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20036

NDN has received an awful lot of press coverage in the past few days and we wanted to take a quick moment to share some of it with you. In addition to the print coverage below, we were also featured on Channel 4 WFOR, WTVJ, Noticias 23 - WLTV-TV, Channel 33 - Miami, and WBZL:

Smiley: GOP candidates ignore minorities, 9/14/07, USA Today

Hispanics are changing the face of U.S. politics, 9/12/07, Miami Herald

Record High Tune to Univision, 9/11/07, Washington Post

Mel Martinez Under Fire, 9/11/07, Washington Times

Sostienen que los republicanos pierden terreno entre hispanos, 9/10/07, El Nuevo Herald

The Dems’ Fight for Latino Loyalties, 9/10/07, Newsweek

Univision Presidential Debate: Media, Migrants translating power, 9/10/07, Of América

His Task: Sell Hispanics on GOP, 9/9/07, Washington Post

GOP candidates snub Univision, 9/9/07, Politico

Democrats woo Cuban-Americans in landmark Spanish debate, 9/9/07, South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Democratas acusan a Republicanos de abandoner a los hispano, 9/9/07, El Nuevo Herald

Todos los ojos sobre Miami, 9/8/07, El Nuevo Hearld

Candidates target Hispanic voters, 9/8/07, Home News Tribune

Dems' bilingual debate 'a historic moment', 9/8/2007, Miami Herald

Democratic Candidates Court Latino Voters, 9/7/07, ABC News

Univision debate and the Hispanic vote, 9/7/07, Miami Herald

Sen. Dodd wants to end Cuba embargo, 9/7/07, Miami Herald

Spanish Is Not the Issue, 9/7/07, Washington Post

You've seen the news articles. This past weekend, we witnessed history as Univision hosted the first-ever Spanish-language Presidential forum. NDN was there and played a vital role, as our argument on the rising influence of the Hispanic electorate helped frame the event. Click on the thumbnails below for larger pictures of the events we held around the forum, as well as two pictures from the forum itself (courtesy of Univision):

For more on NDN's work on issues affecting Hispanic communities, including our efforts to pass comprehensive immigration reform, visit our website.

- In the Washington Post, Dan Balz writes how Labor Day weekend marked a point of acceleration among the campaigns.

- John Weaver, former senior adviser to John McCain's campaign, predicted that his former boss and longtime friend will get another look from voters in New Hampshire. Weaver made his comments to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review in his first in-depth interview since he resigned from the McCain campaign in July.

- In a speech yesterday in New Hampshire, Barack Obama warned against the divisive nature of politics, we need to return to a sense of possibility in government. Check out a short video of Obama's speech here.

- John Edwards won even more endorsements from Labor in the past few days, the latest from the Steelworkers and Mine Workers Unions.

- Rudy Giuliani launched a new website over the weekend, which features many new components. One of the new features is National House Party Night. Watch Dan Meyers explain the new site here (via PrezVid).

- Campaigning in New Hampshire over the weekend, Hillary Clinton pitched her candidacy as one of change and experience. Change, she said, "is just a word if you don't have the strength and experience to make it happen." Interesting sentence...

- Mitt Romney spent Labor Day discussing immigration - specifically his opposition to amnesty - emphasizing his belief that there should be no path to citizenship or permanent residency granted.

- Dennis Kucinich and Mike Gravel take NAFTA to task in these (Kucinich and Gravel) espective YouTube videos.

- Sam Brownback believes that his foreign policy experience is the key to separating him from the rest of the pack. Senator Brownback also weighed in on Rudy Giuliani's future as frontrunner, saying:

"I think a lot of the mayor's support — he's a wonderful man — but I think it's built on name ID, and I think it's very soft."

- Senator Joe Biden responded to President Bush's trip to Iraq on his website.

For more information on NDN's coverage of the 2008 Presidential election, click here.

12 minute video highlightin his service - called Donald Rumsfeld one of the worst Secretaries of Defense in history on "The Tonight Show."

- John Edwards picked up an endorsement from the United Brotherhood of Carpenters. Edwards was also the recipient of a good deal of praise from President Jimmy Carter who said:

"I can say without equivocation that no one who is running for president has presented anywhere near as comprehensive and accurate a prediction of what our country ought to do in the field of environmental quality, in the field of healthcare for those who are not presently insured, for those who struggle with poverty."

- FINALLY, Fred Thompson will announce his candidacy on September 6th via webcast on his website. As Chris Cillizza asks on his blog, The Fix, is Thompson too late?

- Be sure to check out Mike Gravel tonight on "Real Time with Bill Maher."

- John Harwood from the WSJ's Washington Wire thinks the legal troubles of Norman Hsu - a donor/fundraiser for Senator Hillary Clinton - will provide an opening for other "change" candidates.

- Mitt Romney shows he can jog and be compliant at the SAME TIME in "Leadership", his new ad. Check it out below:

For more information on NDN's coverage of the 2008 Presidential election, click here.

- Check out this interesting article from the LA Times detailing how MySpace and MTV plan on connecting their users to presidential candidates.

- Barack Obama, who has picked up significant support from Zbigniew Brzezinski and Douglas Wilder, announced his plan to rebuild and restore New Orleans. More on his plans from the NY Times.

- Regardless of what Mike Huckabee said about the expectations behind his candidacy, Fred Thompson continues to have staffing issues without having formally entered.

- John Edwards, who recently encouraged Congress to use the filibuster, was among other candidates at the LIVESTRONG presidential cancer forum in Iowa. Check out his National Strategy for Cancer Survivorship.

- Rudy Giuliani outlined his tax plan. Hopefully this will help him in his "firewall state", Florida.

- Governor Bill Richardson and Hillary Clinton were among those at the LIVESTRONG forum. Check out Richardson's appearance and be sure to read Clinton's plan to fight cancer. Dennis Kucinich was also present on Monday. Tuesday will host Republican candidates Sam Brownback and Mike Huckabee, much to the disappointment of Lance Armstrong.

- Mitt Romney - who is ranked #2 in Modern Healthcare's "100 most powerful people in Healthcare" - released his health care plan.

- Endorsements: Joe Biden picked up the endorsement of Jack Carter, son of President Jimmy Carter; Hillary Clinton picked up a significant endorsement from the United Transportation Union; and Chris Dodd will pick up the endorsement of the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF).

For more information on NDN's coverage of the 2008 Presidential election, click here.

According to the Miami Herald, Nielsen Media Research will no longer be using a separate system to measure the size of Hispanic TV audiences, opting to get its data instead from Nielsen's traditional "people meter." From the article:

The move to one system comes as major media companies and advertisers grow more eager to reach Hispanic consumers. There are more than 44 million Hispanics living in the United States, making up about 15 percent of the total population. Some studies have estimated the buying power of Hispanics in the United States at more than $800 billion a year.

''We are approaching a critical mass of consciousness by the industry and marketers who have discovered the enormous economic buying power of Hispanics,'' said Don Browne, president of Telemundo, the Spanish-language network owned by NBC Universal. ``They see who is moving through their stores, and who is buying their products and services -- and it's increasingly Hispanics.''