Election Day Follow-Up

Happy day-after-Election Day.

I need to report that the candidate we told you about on Monday's program, Aracely Panameno, running as a write-in candidate for a seat on the Prince William County, Va., Board of Supervisors -- in part, as a protest of that county's immigration efforts to ban services to illegal immigrants -- did not do well. She garnered only 241 votes, out of more than 4,800 cast. Her opponent, John Jenkins, a 26-year veteran, was a shoo-in with more than 4,500 votes.

Was it impressive, given that she only started a couple of weeks ago and was campaigning as a write-in candidate? Was it foolhardy? ... A symbolic gesture more than a real campaign? I'm curious to know what happens next. Both candidates were Democrats. All the incumbents won, all voted for the new measures intended to deny public services to illegal immigrants and to give local police more authority to check immigration status. A number of local jurisdictions are pursuing those kinds of measures. Aracely Panameno's argument was that the measures are a smokescreen for bigger problems facing the county. Her opponent declined to talk to us -- the measures targeting illegals are now the subject of a lawsuit. But we talked to other supporters of the restrictions, who are adamant that their quality of life is being threatened by illegal immigration.

It's an emotional debate, and you can see it playing out across the country ... It just happened to be in our backyard.

Another interesting notion raised by Panameno's candidacy is that the Latino vote is a sleeping giant. She noted that there are 14,000 registered Latino voters in her district. She said if even a fraction came out, she'd win. Well, they didn't. And why not? Questions for future programs...

Now, if you're wondering why we didn't do more on the election results in today's program, I'll tell you:

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Michel Martin

4:28 PM ET | 11- 7-2007 | permalink | comments (2) | e-mail post