Latinos' Dream Team Still Just That

The Austin American Statesman has an interesting story in today's paper that quotes a number of people from the Valley on the effect of current Texas races on the Hispanic community:

"Four years ago, fielding a so-called dream team anchored by gubernatorial candidate Tony Sanchez, the Texas Democratic Party hoped to energize its large base of Latino voters to usher in a victory.

But it didn't happen. And as the 2006 gubernatorial election season gets under way with next week's primary, Latino voters along the border and elsewhere say neither Republicans nor Democrats have statewide candidates that will spark interest among Latinos, the state's fastest growing ethnic group, making up 35 percent of Texas' 22 million residents."

It goes on to note that our ambassador to Mexico, Tony Garza, a Republican from the Valley is a likely candidate for statewide office in the future. I know Tony and he represents the centrist/moderate model that I spoke of earlier. With the war between the moderate and conservative wings of the Republican party you have to wonder if they are ready for this. The Democrats have to do their own searching if they are to be prepared for this inevitable conflict.