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t-2 EL NACIONAL dE tuLsA viernes 20 de febrero, 2015 • www.noticiasoklahoma.com english RANDY QUIROGA-KING PUBLISHER Oklahoma's #1 Hispanic News pa per, Website, Yellow Pages, Attorney & Health Guides and Metro Magazine! 300 SW 25th ST | OKC, OK 73109 www.noticiasoklahoma.com Los artículos que se publican aquí, son responsabilidad de quién los escribe. Las cartas deberán contar con el nombre del autor y un teléfono para confirmar. The opinions expressed in articles published are not necessarily those of El Nacional. Letters should must have a name and phone for verification purposes. SUBSCRIPTIONS/ SUSCRIPCIONES $96 Year. Mail check or money order: Attention Subscriptions $96 por año. Envíe el cheque o mo- ney order: Atención Suscripciones OKLAHOMA OWNED. HISPANIC OWNED. SARA MARTINEz coordinator of the hispanic resource center of tulsa-city county public library system ISAAC ROCHA chairman tulsa's young profesionals DANIEL CHABOYA president of tulsa intercultural association 918·947·8100 REPRESENTANTES DE VENTAS PERRY KEPFORD VICTOR VILLAR ALEX GOMEZ DISEÑO GRAFICO SAMUEL CARDONA MARCO SANTA MARíA EDITOR DE VIDEOS MATTHEw COON EL DE OKLAHOMA NACIONAL Oklahoma's Trusted Spanish News Source. EDITORA EJECUTIVA ROSA QUIROGA-KING CHIEF - EDITOR CARLOS ORTIZ REPORTERO DE LA COMUNIDAD JOSUÉ RAMOS GERENTE DE OPERACIONES SOFíA HIDROGO Proud Partners Of: ADS E-MAIL ads.nacional@coxinet.net NEWS E-MAIL news.nacional@coxinet.net noticias.nacional@coxinet.net GENERAL E-MAIL nacional@coxinet.net www.NoticiasOklahoma.com "Hispanic Candidates for President" By Raoul Lowery Contreras e 2016 Presidential race is on. Will Hispanics have a voice in choosing the Repu- blican candidate? Hispanics can have a giant voice becau- se they have people they can support running. ey have no choice in the Democratic race; they have Hillary. Prior to the takeover of the California Republican Party by ultra-right-wing- death-on-immigration fana- tics, California Hispanics regularly gave up to 40 per- cent of their votes to Republi- cans. In Florida, Cuban refu- gees became citizens and they slapped the pro-Castro Demo- crats into a political coffin. In Texas, Hispanics will outnumber non-Hispanic whites in another generation. ey voted large for Gover- nor George W. Bush and did again when he ran for Pre- sident. In last November's election, they fled the Party of "Abortion Barbie" Wendy Davis and voted a solid 40 percent or more for Republi- can Greg Abbott; that was not only because Mrs. Abbott is the very first Hispanic First Lady of Texas. How, then, do Hispanic Republicans look at the 2016 nomination process? It kicked off with Jeb Bush's announce- ment that he was exploring a run for the Presidency, an announcement that moved the campaign up by months. Shortly thereafter Mike Huckabee, former Arkan- sas governor and runner- up to John McCain in the 2008 GOP primary, left his Fox News Channel weekend program announ- cing he was explo- ring another run. Rand Paul was trying to get his state, Kentucky, to pass a cowardly law allowing him to simultaneously run for the Senate and the Presidency. Texas Senator Ted Cruz is hiring staff with national experience. Florida's Senator Marco Rubio is hiring national staff; he is in the middle of a book tour and using his chairmanship of a House sub-com- mittee to challenge President Obama's opening to the Cas- tro dictatorship. Wisconsin's Gover- nor Scott Walker's fortunes are on the rise but is not a can- didate for Hispanic support in the pri- maries. Outside this group are other potential candidates with little attraction to Hispanic Republi- cans with the excep- tion of New Jer- sey Governor Chris Christie who nailed 50% of the Hispa- nic vote in his 2013 reelection. is, then, is the list of leading contenders ranked in order of Hispanic support as observed from these pre- cincts. e two leading can- didates on which money can be bet are Jeb Bush, for- mer governor of Florida (and Hispanic by marriage, chuc- kle) and Florida U.S. Sena- tor Marco Rubio (who seems to be everyone's second choi- ce). If they were from diffe- rent states they would be the best possible candidates. e Constitution prohibits the President and Vice-President to be from the same state. Jeb Bush would get a slight edge for two reasons: One, he was a successful Flo- rida governor. He had high marks for impro- ving education, for voucher and char- ter school help and for improving 4th grade reading and math sco- res among Hispa- nics. He also was a respected green governor for his attempts torescue the Everglades. Secondly, his deep-rooted loyal Hispanic following in Florida can very well trans- late to Hispanic support in sta- tes like Texas, Ari- zona, New Mexi- co, Nevada, Illi- nois and Califor- nia. He speaks Spanish well; he is married to a real Mexican woman from Mexico. It does not hurt that his well-known son, George Pres- cott Bush, the new Texas Lands Com- missioner looks like his mother and "se habla Español," too. Marco Rubio was born in Miami to working class Cuban immi- grants. His father worked as abar- tender, his mother made hotel beds. ey lived for a time in Las Vegas and returned to Miami where Marco atten- ded college and law school. He entered politics in Cuban- rich Miami and rose through the ranks of the legislature as a friend of Governor Jeb Bush and led the legislature as Speaker. He, too, speaks Espa- ñol; he is for a strong Ameri- ca and challenges President Obama on many foreign poli- cy fronts. He is an intelligent winner who has never lost an election. First time candidate Texas Senator Ted Cruz won easily in 2012. He was not hinde- red by his Canadian birth or his right-wing father. Papa Cruz' political history mor- phed from fanatic Castro supporter in Cuba to ultra- right political fanatic. Senator Cruz says he didn't know he was a Canadian citizen when he was. Cruz' politics (espe- cially on immigration) are different from Rubio's; they more reflect Texas back cou- ntry simplicity than a com- plex modern country of 330 million people. Cruz has litt- le chance of Hispanic support. Senator Rand Paul has no chance of gaining support of Hispanics for two reasons: One, his views stop at the Mexican border. It is doubt- ful he can answer five ques- tions about Mexico, or Cuba, or Venezuela. Mike Huckabee has litt- le chance of raising enough money or convincing twelve Hispanics to vote for him; ditto Scott Walker, Ben Carson, Rick Santorum and the others. Hispanic support can be important for the GOP nomi- nation what with primaries in heavily Hispanic Florida, Cali- fornia and Texas, the three states with the most conven- tion delegates. Who will they support?