Election 2008: What’s At Stake?

For a recent multimedia project called “I Am New York” for NYCInteractive.org, I profiled one immigrant politician, Harjinder Singh Duggal, who is one of the many Sikhs who supports Sen. Hillary Clinton in her now-failed run for the Democratic presidential nomination. And he is just not ready to throw his support for Obama. Yet.

Most Indians have forgotten Clinton’s 2004 joke about Mahatma Gandhi running a gas station in St. Louis. At the time, it was one of her “I misspoke” moments. Now, she still seems to have support from Indian immigrants here in the wake of strong ties her husband Bill Clinton helped maintain during his presidency. There is something about the Indian-American vote. From the IT offices in Silicon Valley to the Dunkin’ Donuts in Virginia, Indian-Americans appear to know who they want to vote for in this year’s presidential race.

While Barack Obama got the endorsement from Little India, a newspaper based in New York, thousands of Sikhs and Gujaratis have rallied behind Clinton (at least in part because of her husband — recall the drama that followed when Obama campaign circulated a memo entitled “Hillary Clinton (D-Punjab)” attacking Clinton financial ties to India?).

Like Duggal, some Indians are still going for Clinton, even after she drops out this Saturday.