Redstate

Posted at 8:56am on Jun. 9, 2008 Puerto Rico: A Question of Status

By Matt Sanchez

Politicians will do funniest things on the campaign trail and Hillary Clinton is not an exception. Like a firefly caught in a jar, the struggling former First Lady has zig-zagged the tiny commonwealth island of Puerto Rico to attract as much attention as possible to her candidacy. Out of desperation, she may just compromise the country she hopes to lead.

So far, the Democratic primaries have been like a long running Spanish speaking soap opera, even if you don't understand the language, it's easy to tell the good guys from the bad; the music changes when the bad guy speaks and the reaction are always exaggerated, melodramatic. Hillary has had to be dramatic too.

Politics in Puerto Rico can usually be reduced to one word "Status". In several referendums, Puerto Ricans have had to chose between three scenarios: independence, statehood or commonwealth.

Read on . . .

Posted in Miscellanea | Puerto Rico — Comments (75) / Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 7:31pm on Jun. 1, 2008 A few words on Puerto Rico

It matters

By Ben Domenech

First off, a confession: yes, that was my cousin Hillary just thanked from the podium. I trust he is as ashamed of my political preferences as I of him, but we're nice about it and can drink together anyway. This is family, people.

Second off: who were all these self-styled experts about Puerto Rican politics who emerged over the past few weeks? I can't tell you how many glaring factually vacant idiocies I saw in ink form and online over the past few weeks, all because someone has a Puerto Rican friend or vacationed on the island a few times. Look: just because you've been to a place doesn't mean you understand its politics.

The rest of the RS editors always dog on me for linking to this publication, but I still persist in reading it, because I like it (and I like NPR - sue me), which led me to ask: Who the heck is Michael Sean Winters, and why is he so wrong about Puerto Rico? I'd assume a Jesuit to at least know enough to realize that the selection of Presidente over Medalla is not going to decide an election (look, I love PR, but Medalla tastes like it's aged in sweaty socks). But then, he got the King Canute reference wrong too, so whaddaya expect.

In any case, the third and most important point is this: Puerto Rico may not matter at the moment, or in the big scheme of things, but it should to any Democrat. It should because it shows once again that, given the opportunity to ice this nomination for good, Barack Obama cannot deliver. His ground efforts are simply not up to snuff for a general election, and it will need a vast overhaul to compete with a Republican machine that, for all its faults, still is at the top of the game when it comes to microtargeting voters and moving people on election day.

Posted in 2008 | Barack Obama | Hillary Clinton | Puerto Rico | The Best Democratic Primary EVER — Comments (23)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 1:27pm on Jun. 1, 2008 The "Puerto Rico's Polls close at *3 PM*?" Semi-open Thread.

Of course they do.

By Moe Lane

[UPDATE: Annnnd CNN calls it for Clinton, with a 10 to 4 ratio of delegates. If this exit poll is correct, Obama should be grateful: this sort of mauling is usually associated with major limb loss. Not that it should matter, as he's still ahead in delegates... but depending on turnout, he may be unambiguously behind in the popular vote after today. Not that that should matter, either - except that the Democratic Party fetishes popular vote counts. - Moe Lane]

Results here.

I recommend that people start at Fausta's blog for what may be a prescient look at today's primary, check out Pajamas Media for the general link extravaganza and note these maybe-good and maybe-bad stories from TalkLeft. Or maybe that should be maybe-bad and maybe-good. It's Sunday, and honestly, it's too nice a day out for me to care overmuch.

Open thread.

Posted in 2008 | Puerto Rico | The Best Democratic Primary EVER — Comments (0)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 11:06am on Apr. 14, 2008 Why You Should Care About Puerto Rico

By Ben Domenech

Over at Human Events this morning, you'll find my latest column on the importance of Puerto Rico in the 2008 cycle.

There's a point that I make later in the piece which might be worth considering here - namely, that neither Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton offer a cure for what ills Puerto Rico. Regardless of what you think of the statehood-independence issue, this is a situation where there's no question that there's a need for pro-free market, anti-corruption, pro-trade leadership.

Posted in 2008 | Barack Obama | Hillary Clinton | Puerto Rico — Comments (2) / Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 11:50am on Mar. 27, 2008 Governor Aníbal Acevedo Vilá, Puerto Rico Democrat, Indicted

Another bad day for the Community-Based Reality

By Neil Stevens

Puerto Rico Governor Aníbal Acevedo Vilá, a Democratic Party superdelegate and endorser of Senator Barack Obama, was indicted today as part of a wide-ranging conspiracy to systematically violate federal campaign finance law and obstruct FBI investigations into his now apparently illegal campaign for Congress (as a non-voting member) in 2000.

So it's official: Let's add another Democrat to Þe Olde Culture of Corruption List.

Read on...

Posted in Aníbal Acevedo Vilá | Barack Obama | Culture of Corruption | Democrats | Puerto Rico — Comments (18)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 3:36pm on Feb. 24, 2008 McCain Gets Puerto Rico

By California Yankee

Joining Republicans in American Samoa and the Northern Marianas, Puerto Rico Republicans awarded 20 delegates to Senator McCain:

The at-large delegates each will cast one vote at the Republican National Convention this summer. Three "superdelegates," who are not bound by Sunday's results, also have pledged to back McCain, the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination.

With the delegates from Puerto Rico, McCain has 996 of the 1,191 delegates he needs to secure the Republican nomination. Mike Huckabee continues to be stuck at 254 delegates.

Posted in 2008 | John McCain | Mike Huckabee | Puerto Rico — Comments (16)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 1:28pm on Feb. 14, 2008 Puerto Rican (D) Unanimity Splintering? [comments open]

By Dan McLaughlin

A lot of us have been assuming that the Puerto Rico Democratic primary is winner-take-all, and thus a potential ace in the hole for Hillary Clinton. But is the delegation legally required to be winner-take-all, or is that just a practical consequence of traditional practice? I ask because Michael Barone's update to the post that first focused attention on this issue seems to suggest that it's the latter and that will not hold this time. Here is what Barone originally wrote:

Democratic delegates are supposed to be allocated by proportional representation. But that notion is alien to highly competitive Puerto Rican politics. In practice, the dominant figure in Puerto Rico identifying with the Democratic Party has seen to it that his faction gets all the territory’s delegates. This was true of Govs. Carlos Romero Barcelo and Pedro Rosello of the New Progressive Party (PNP) as well as Gov. Rafael Hernandez Colon of the Popular Democratic Party (PPD). PPD politicians almost always identify with mainland Democrats (an exception was Sila Calderón, governor from 2000 to 2004, who identified with neither party and concentrated, successfully, on persuading Congress and the Bush administration to close the artillery range on Vieques Island). It’s not clear to me at this distance whether the current governor, Aníbal Acevedo of the PPD, will have similar clout. He’s at odds with Rosello, and the legislature is in the hands of the PNP. But if Acevedo doesn’t determine who gets Puerto Rico’s 63 votes, someone else will. And they aren’t likely to be proportionately distributed.

And here is the update he posted yesterday:

Puerto Rico's Governor Anibal Acevedo-Vila has endorsed Barack Obama for president. This obviously reduces toward zero the chance that Puerto Rico will produce a unanimous delegation for Hillary Clinton. Other Puerto Rico politicians of Acevedo-Vila's Popular Democratic Party and the opposition New Progressive Party have been seen as leaning to Clinton; it will be interesting to see where they end up.

Comments open.