Election 2008: What’s At Stake?

Here’s a run-down of the races we were watching. In some, the immigration issue played a role—or failed to; in others, immigrant voters’ voices were heard. More details to come later on some of the major stories. (All results from NYTimes.com, unless linked elsewhere.)

Texas 22: Republican Pete Olson beat Democratic incumbent Rep. Nick Lampson, [...]

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Two days before the election, the immigration issue and/or immigrant voters are playing a big role in a handful of Congressional races. Here’s what we’re watching:

Texas 22: Democrat Nick Lampson hopes to fend off a challenge from Republican Pete Olson with the help of South Asian voters. A Zogby poll has the Republican substantially ahead, [...]

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As Rep. Mario and Lincoln Diaz-Balart campaigns come down to the wire in the Miami area, all eyes are on the non-Cuban Latinos who might swing the races to the Democrats for the first time in decades.
Mother Jones has posted a video that was part of the Elizabeth Méndez Berry and Don Duncan’s News [...]

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAC9ucoO-kQ

As News 21 discovered last summer, the long-running Diaz-Balart dynasty seems to be coming to an end. Mario and Lincoln Diaz-Balart, both conservative Republicans, have held their South Florida Congressional seats for years, largely on the basis of their tough-on-Cuba stance.
The brothers are losing their appeal, however, as their constituencies come to be dominated [...]

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Several of the congressional races News 21 has been following are on a new ranked list of 50 House races to watch. In some of these districts, immigration is an issue; in others, immigrant voters may tilt the election.

6. Texas 22 - Republican Pete Olson challenges Democrat Nick Lampson, who won this very Republican district [...]

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More than 50 people were arrested by ICE during a raid at a Southern California bakery. Authorities are saying that company supervisors extorted money from the undocumented workers in return for guaranteeing them jobs.

Sixty-five people were arrested in an immigration raid on a candle-making plant in Arizona, carried out by Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio.
A [...]

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmPBSkqrPBc

Lincoln Diaz-Balart has reached out to Latino voters on behalf of John McCain. Polls show he has his own problems to worry about.
A new poll commissioned by Roll Call shows Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart (R-Fla. 21) losing 46 to 48 percent against Democratic challenger Raul Martinez, in what’s shaping up to be an era-changing race.
Diaz-Balart [...]

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The AP reports that tensions between immigrants and union members led to the largest immigration raid in U.S. history, in Mississippi earlier this week. ICE began investigating Howard Industries three years ago after a union members tipped them off.
The Miami Herald notes that Cuban issues are no longer as important to Miami voters as [...]

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A federal judge upheld Arizona’s Proposition 200, a 2004 law that mandates proof of citizenship for voter registration. News 21 reporters found that Latinos and other voters are often disenfranchised by Prop. 200.
Time magazine delved into Miami Latinos’ shift toward the Democrats. News 21 reporters Don Duncan and Elizabeth Mendez Berry came to the same [...]

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When News21 producers Don Duncan and Elizabeth Mendez-Berry traveled to to Miami in order to investigate shifts in the Latino community, what they found was that Cuban voices are no longer the only Hispanic ones in Miami politics.
As part of the upcoming elections there, local politicians are focused on campaigning in Colombian and Nicaraguan [...]

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