Salazar kin jumps aisle to support McCain
By Myung Oak Kim, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)
Published August 22, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.
Updated August 22, 2008 at 1:13 a.m.
Silverio "Silver" Salazar has been an active Democrat for decades, just like his cousins, U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar and U.S. Rep. John Salazar.
But for the 2008 presidential election, Silver Salazar is squarely behind John McCain.
Silver Salazar, who had served as a Pueblo precinct leader for 20 years, was a Hillary Clinton backer. So when Barack Obama clinched the Democratic nomination, he began to research McCain and liked what he read.
He chose McCain because of his experience and readiness to take office.
Now, Silver Salazar is working to convince Democrats and Hispanics to support the GOP nominee.
"I'm making history for myself," said the 59-year-old retired steel company operations manager. "This is the first I'll vote for a Republican president - or work for one."
Silver Salazar has been publicly supporting McCain since early summer. He's done national media interviews and attended campaign visits across Colorado. On Thursday, he spoke at a news conference in Pueblo with other Hispanics supporting McCain.
About a dozen Hispanic McCain backers also held a press conference in Denver.
Hispanics across Colorado and the U.S. typically vote Democratic. But President Bush took an estimated 40 percent of the Hispanic vote in 2004, up from 34 percent in 2000.
A recent Rocky Mountain News/CBS4 News poll of Colorado voters found that 57 percent of Hispanics support Obama and 36 percent back McCain. The poll of 500 registered voters was taken Aug. 11 through 13 by Public Opinion Strategies and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.38 percentage points.
Salazar is still a registered Democrat. He's in no hurry to change parties, but he said he's supported some local Republicans in the past.
Getting connected to the McCain campaign wasn't easy at first.
"I didn't know how to do it. I got on the Internet."
He found the Republican National Hispanic Assembly. "I e-mailed them and they never e-mailed me back.
"So then I called the state Republican Party and asked them where can I find some McCain people. . . . The state Republican Party was very receptive. They called me back and they gave me the names of McCain people and started inviting me to things."
Silver Salazar said he's gotten some heat for making the switch.
"I've had comments made to me. I've had phone calls. They say, 'How could you do it? You've been such a good Democrat for so many years. What changed you?' "
He said he's also gotten encouragement.
"We shouldn't just vote Democrat just because our parents did."
kimm@RockyMountainNews.com
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August 22, 2008
9:24 a.m.
Suggest removal
deec4 writes:
Amen. I'm Hispanic and gay, and I'm voting republican for the first time too.
Just because Hillary is supporting BO, does not mean we have to. She's a democratic senator and former first lady, and has to back him. We are American citizens, and don't have to do anything.
Being a democrat does not qualify BO to be president.
And, no, McCain is not Bush (climate change, torture, etc).
Country First!
August 22, 2008
10:19 a.m.
Suggest removal
gary writes:
At least some people use their minds and think things through.
Good for you guys!!
Nuff Said!
August 22, 2008
10:55 a.m.
Suggest removal
imPatrickBateman writes:
"We shouldn't just vote Democrat just because our parents did."
Very true, I'm impressed. If only more people could think for themselves like Silver does.
"He chose McCain because of his experience and readiness to take office."
Uh oh, queue the BO kool-aid drinkers, how dare he imply that the messiah lacks the experience and readiness needed to take office!
August 22, 2008
1:37 p.m.
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SL10 writes:
Wow! *speechless*
August 22, 2008
3:10 p.m.
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KnoWhatYoureTalkinAbout writes:
That's what happends when you get a little dough in your pocket. Jump ship boys we got the booty!
August 22, 2008
3:59 p.m.
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HopiMedicineMan writes:
Minority sub-organizations within the Republican Party were my biggest surprise when I attended the state convention this year. They're strong, well populated, enthusiastic, articulate and ignored altogether by this newspaper.
Republicans are happy. Democrats aren't. Who would could be happy if this country were so terrible as they represent?
August 22, 2008
4:01 p.m.
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HopiMedicineMan writes:
Just worked out, too tired to proof read.
August 22, 2008
5:02 p.m.
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navymom writes:
Hopi, hope the workout was good.
I am glad to hear so many minority voters are actually thinking and not blindly following Obama. I don't think that we should blindly follow anyone. We should look at issues, records and experience to make our decision.
There will be people on both sides and there will be people who change sides. I just hope most fall on the McCain side.
August 22, 2008
5:34 p.m.
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HopiMedicineMan writes:
navymom,
Thank God for people like you. I know too many mothers who steer their sons away from the military, mine for one. God bless you.
And the workout wasn't great. Back to the drawing board.
August 22, 2008
9:11 p.m.
Suggest removal
esalaz2 writes:
Yes, As a fifth generation Coloradoan and a relative of Ken, John and Silver Salazar, I am a "blue dog Democrat." I'm voting for the first time republican for President. Its time that we all think for ourselves and not the way that our ancestors believed. We need to think of who has the experience and can run this country well. Even as relatives we need to think for ourselves. What really has our Democrat relatives really done, other than Flip Flop in D.C.
August 23, 2008
10:24 a.m.
Suggest removal
Jolliboy writes:
"We shouldn't just vote Democrat just because our parents did."
That's right!
A patriot, World War II wartime president of the Philippines, Manuel L. Quezon, once said:
"My loyalty to my party ends where my loyalty to my country begins."
August 23, 2008
2:18 p.m.
Suggest removal
HopiMedicineMan writes:
Esalaz2 just made news if Myung Oak Kim is reading this far down.
And good for you Esalaz2. Indians are seeing the light as well.
August 25, 2008
5 p.m.
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chico88 writes:
That's right Silver, all we Hispanics need is four more years of ineptitude and tax reductions for the rich. Come on people, are you better off now than you were in 2000? Remember, McCain voted for Bush's tax breaks for the rich every time. How many tax breaks did you get?
September 8, 2008
6:58 p.m.
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Dre_Padilla writes:
Chico88, you are the quintessential hispanic democrat who believes what the msm spoon feeds you without checking facts or researching anything on your own. Just take what you hear on the boobtube as gospel. That's why it's called the boobtube. If you understood economics and capitalism, and the principles on which this country was founded, you would not be voting for any democrat ever. But you like handouts and the redistribution of wealth from those who earn to those who don't deserve it. The only ineptitude on display here is your own. But you will never understand that. When Ken Salazar's own relatives cross over, it shows that they understand what is at stake here and as they said, you don't vote democrat just because your parents do. I didn't either because I finally started looking at the facts and not what the msn claims to be facts. There are none so blind as those that refuse to see.
September 8, 2008
7:19 p.m.
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Theresa writes:
NEWSFLASH People
The top 50% of wage earners in this country pay 40% of the taxes... of that top 50% the top 10% pay 70% of all taxes... the lower 50% of wage earners in America pay 2.9% of all taxes. Chico, maybe your boss will get such a huge tax hike with Obama that he may have to let you go... that is assuming that you have a job.
September 23, 2008
3:29 p.m.
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mark_ledden writes:
Are you people insane? Especially you, Silver. Obama's stance on choice, and pretty much every other issue, is the same as Hillary's. Wha on earth were you voting for when you voted for Hillary? And how the hell could a gay person support the republican party after they have for years villified gays as a plague they thought would undermine America. Dems want you to have the same rights as straight couples. Dems do not think you are some sort of abomination. Doesn't that matter to you?
September 24, 2008
8:41 a.m.
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uppityhomo writes:
Thank you Mark Ledden. So many people here salute the Hillary converts as "thinking people" although it is hard to know what they are thinking. Instead of voting for a candidate who is pretty much the same on the issues as Hillary, they are going over to a candidate whose positions on many of the issues are the opposite of Hillary. Even a gay Latino here has gone over to the party that villifies gays whenever it is convenient, and anyone who thinks McCain will be different is fooling himself.
I just saw an article in which Salazar exlained his conversion by stating that Obama is too liberal and is out of touch with Latino voters on immigration reform, abortion and the Iraq war. Since Obama has the same positions as Hillary, she too must be too liberal and out of touch with Latino voters.
One of the reasons the Democratic primaries were so nasty was that the candidates were pretty much the same on the issues and had to resort to personal attacks.
I do think that Obama should have picked Hillary or Governor Richardson for VP, which would have been stronger for the Latino vote. The Democrats need to work aggressively to show that they want to fully include Latinos in the party and the nation. Latinos are a big part of this country's future and I hope the Democrats recognize that.
The only reasons I can see for Latinos to convert from Hillary to McCain is either the irrational anger so many Hillary supporters have toward Obama or the historic hostility between Latinos and blacks, because Obama and Hillary have common goals, policies and beliefs.