Arlington, VA —A traditionally Republican state, Virginia is becoming more Democratic. In the 2006 mid-term election, Northern Virginia was key to Democrat Jim Webb winning his Senate seat. Asian Americans, who compose 12 percent of the population in Northern Virginia, are turning more and more Democratic. And that can significantly contribute to swing Virginia to the left in November.
Chris Lu, chief of staff of Senator Obama, and Springfield District Supervisor Patrick Herrity attended a forum Oct. 25 at Arlington’s China Garden Restaurant to address Asian American voters.
The debate shared a heated moment when Patrick Herrity, a McCain supporter, accused Obama’s team of knowing nothing beyond “three-sentence deep sound bytes.”
In addition to “Joe the Plumber,” small business, healthcare, and other familiar topics, each of the speakers pitched to the audience with something Asian American.
Chris Lu told the audience that Obama might be the first Asian American President. Patrick Herrity emphasized the “trust factor” of McCain, a war hero in the Vietnam War.
Chris Lu said that Senator Obama considered Asian Americans as not being different from the rest of America. They care about the same issues of education, healthcare, and war in Iraq. Senator Obama’s world is not divided into ethnic parties, such as Asian Americans, African Americans, etc., according to Lu. He considers Obama very intelligent, thoughtful, decent, and understanding of those who have not grown up as part of the mainstream society.
When Lu mentioned that Senator Obama left his campaign trail to visit his ailing grandmother in Hawaii, the audience gave an enthusiastic applause.
As for Obama’s position on China, Lu commented on the importance of our economic ties with China where it is important to keep a close trade relationship.
According to Lu, at the same time, America should push China hard on human rights, and Senator Obama is against religious persecutions, persecution in Tibet, Burma, Falun Gong practitioners, and China’s support of genocide in Darfur.
According to 2007 report of Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, Asian Americans have leaned towards the Democrats in the past 6 years. This was reflected in the audience of about forty people, where only a few supported Senator McCain.
Steve Tae, a consultant with the McLean defense contractor Booz Allen Hamilton, puts national security as the highest priority. He explains that the economy goes in cycles. Regardless of who’s the President, the economy will eventually come back. Tae’s father came from Korea to study in America in the 60’s. Although his father is a Democrat, he chose the Republican Party because its ideology was “consistent with our family values and culture.”
Song Park, a Financial Advisor with Smith Barney in Alexandria, is the President of Korean American Republican Party in Virginia. He thinks that many Asian Americans simply vote for Obama because they see friends doing so. He says that he checked around in the audience, and feels that they are not familiar with Obama’s positions.
Tino Calabia is going to vote for Obama. He said he initially supported Clinton, but now he would vote for Obama. He didn’t think Sarah Palin was ready for a position in the high office, and thought McCain’s recent negative campaigning reflected the opposite character of what he claimed.
Patrick Herrity said, “I’m confident McCain will win Virginia. I don’t know much about the rest of the country.”
In the next few days, there will be more campaign stops in the State of Virginia by both Obama and McCain, a state that hasn’t gone for the Democrats since Johnson in 1964, and is a must win for McCain if he is to have a realistic chance of winning the White House.
