DID DEMS BLOW A FL SWEEP NEGLECTING PUERTO RICANS?

                                                                                                                                            by Michael Hammerschlag

As usual Florida went down to the wire, and Puerto Ricans could have made the difference. But did Democrats blow it again in neglecting these key voters, driven from their home by Hurricane Maria and massive Trump Admin. incompetence and denial? “We’re worried,” says activist Mario Catalino earlier, “Mr. Nelson’s campaign is not taking seriously enough the Puerto Rican population. I think the Democratic Party is completely missing the boat when it comes to getting its message to them.”

Estimates of the flood of Islanders to Florida after Maria ranged up to 350,000, a Hispanic Org lists 279K, but let's say there were 300,000, total Florida island-born P.R. eligible voters are now about 530,000. The Allianza for Progress claims they registered 77,000, and let's estimate 23,000 others registered on their own- that's still only 18.6% of the potential! Added to the million or so Puerto Ricans already there, that makes them +31% of Florida Hispanics, slightly more than Cubans at over 1.2 million; in 1988 the ratio of solidly Republican Cubans to Puerto Ricans was 2:1, then making the Hispanic block a Republican asset.

READ MORE

Michael Hammerschlag's commentary and articles have appeared in New York Times, International Herald Tribune, Seattle Times, Providence Journal, Columbia Journalism Review, Honolulu Advertiser, Capital Times, Global Post, Yahoo, Business Insider, and many papers in Russia & Ukraine. He broke major stories of Florida vote counting and TV Network mistakes in the 2000 Election.