I recently moved back to Los Angeles from a 2 year stay in Washington D.C and was very happy to see that there are two Latino candidates running in this week?s Mayoral Elections. Unfortunately, I am not a US citizen and therefore I will not be able to participate in this historic election.
Why historic? First, because on the one hand many people believe that for the first time in 129 years Los Angeles may have a Latino Mayor, and second, because this election is expected to mobilize the Latino vote to unprecedented levels. So, this election is very important to the Latino community. However, the Latino community is also confronted with a dilemma. Who to vote for? Xavier Becerra or Antonio Villaraigosa!!!
Many Latino leaders have attempted to convince one of the two candidates to drop from the contest in order to assure that the other will garner the majority of the Latino vote and thus assure victory. In particular, Becerra has been subject of intense pressure recently after several polls have shown that Villaraigosa has pulled significantly ahead. However, both have decided to stay in the contest, keeping their political aspirations alive.
Assuming that I would be able to vote this week, I decided to do a little research on the political platform of both candidates in order to resolve the dilemma. I would like to think that Latino voters are going to make a choice based on policy stands of the candidates and not on a mere political strategy.
Besides assuming that I would be able to vote, I also assumed that I was an average middle class voter that due to some unforeseen circumstances was not well informed about the race and decided to use the Internet as the main and only source of information. However, confronted with countless sources of information, I decided to focus on the official internet page of each candidate.
As you read the conclusions of my research please keep in mind the following: Most of the information on the WebPages was brief, concise and on the form of ?sound bites? . In other words, the information was as brief as possible in order to covey the message and still retain the attention of the readers. Consequently, this might reflect only a partial image of the candidates and their political views. Never the less, I expected the candidates to recognize the influential role of the internet in contemporary politics and thus use this tool as a reliable medium of communication. I assumed both candidates constructed their webpages as dependable sources of information where voters can obtain information in order to make an informed political decision on April 10. |
