Tomorrow is not only Election Day, but the night of the big Obama rally here in Chicago. His campaign has arranged for a huge election watch party in Grant Park, and while 65,000 people hold tickets, the Mayor estimates up to a million people will attend to see Obama either win or lose the big race.
Because Obama lives in Chicago and will be putting the city on the international stage, the rally is big news here and Obamamania is at fever pitch.
Another city enamored by the senator from Illinois is the city of Obama, Japan, of which some residents have shot their own music video to show their support for the candidate.
In the spirit of this really fun, Japenese music – and I guess even politics – knows-no-language-barriers video, I decided to do a quick online scan to see if members of the Latino community are expressing their support for Obama in creative ways … and we most certainly are.**
- A Google search for “Latinos para Obama” turned up more than 1,300 results, including blog posts, MySpace pages and home made videos dedicated to the candidate
- There are more than 1,500 YouTube videos tagged “Latinos para Obama,” “Latinos for Obama,” and “Latinos por Obama, ” including “Podemos con Obama,” which brings together a slew of Latin/Latino singers and stars, and “Si se puede cambiar” by Andres Useche
- The Web site AmigosdeObama.com features three separate Obama tributes, in norteño, mariachi and reggaeton music styles, the final being the now classic “Como se dice, como se llama … Obama.”
- There are a smattering of pro-Obama Facebook groups, including Latina/Hispanic Women For Obama, National Young Latino Professionals (YLP) for Obama and Un Millon de Votos Virtuales del Mundo para Barack Obama
Much has been written about the Latino vote; efforts to increase the number of voters among the U.S. Hispanic population, which stands today at nearly 10 million, up from 7.6 million in 2004; and each party’s attempts at courting Latinos. And now a day before all of the votes are counted, Obama is leading 73 percent to 24 percent among Latino voters.
If the number of pro-Obama Latino fan sites, videos and blog posts are any indication, these poll numbers should prove correct tomorrow, not only in Chicago but across the country.
* = To be fair to both candidates, the FH Hispania Plaza team is working on a similar post about Latino support for McCain.
** = To keep things clean and consistent, the only search terms used were “Latinos para Obama,” “Latinos for Obama” and “Latinos por Obama,” always in quotes.
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