Breakout Sessions

In the session that I observed (one of 10 sessions!), a lot of suggestions and commentary was generated that will go directly to the DNC for their information and action.

The theme of our session was "What Can the DNC do to Better Reach Out to Hispanic Voters?"

The very wording of the question came under fire at first, when Mario Champion, of Latinos for Texas expressed that in his campaign experience, it is a misnomer to call some of this activity "outreach." It really shouldn't be that a candidate or campaign should have to reach out to certain constituencies, but that members of that group should rise up as leaders and self-organize.

We also heard from Zulema Farber, who works in various capacities in New Jersey and has a lot of political experience. She countered an earlier opinion aired by another participant by saying that Latinos are much stronger as a political group when we can present a single front. The other participant had posed the question of whether we would be able to attract more Latinos by fine-tuning our message and acknowledging the differences between those of Central American, Mexican, Caribbean and other heritages.

This question was further resolved by comments from Carlos Soles, a principal of Puente Latino, who offered useful information about a successful campaign he had been involved with in the past, where he not only spoke Spanish with the audiences he was addressing, but in additino, spoke Chilango, Chapin, Guanaco (the varieties of Spanish, using expressions and idioms of the peoples of Mexico, Guatemala and other countries.)

DNC staff faithfully took notes and copied them onto easel-boards, so that participants could draw from prior comments and build on their input.

--Jerome Wiley Segovia