Is the GOP about to have an (Asian American) evangelical problem?

(The Washington Post) Few Americans know that Asian Americans voted largely in favor of Obama when he ran against McCain in 2008.

 Little is known about how Asian Americans vote because most studies that evaluate vote choice and turnout are conducted in one or two languages and are usually not large enough to identify the diversity of political opinion in Asian America.

But a recent survey, the 2012 Pew Asian American Survey, focuses specifically on Asian Americans’ political and religious views and the results are rather surprising.

Continue reading → http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/guest-voices/post/is-the-gop-about-to-have-an-asian-american-evangelical-problem/2012/08/03/a01c5772-dd8b-11e1-8e43-4a3c4375504a_blog.html

Romney courts Asians in Northern Virginia

FAIRFAX, Va. -- Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney reached out to Northern Virginia's fast-growing Asian-American population during a campaign stop here Thursday as he looks to lure more voters under his party's tent to help him get over the finish line in a state he badly needs to win this November.

Romney invited five women to speak before him, including three Asian-Americans, who represent a population in Virginia that ballooned by 72 percent in the last decade and now make up 6.5 percent of the state's 8 million residents. It's a demographic that Romney is actively courting to offset President Obama's advantage among black and Hispanic voters, and it could help even the score in Democratic-leaning Northern Virginia.

Continue reading → http://washingtonexaminer.com/romney-courts-asians-in-northern-virginia/article/2507956  

Live From Tampa: Asian-Republican Summit A Huge Success

Republican National Chairman Reince Priebus addresses 300 political leaders at the Asian Pacific American Summit on August 26 at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, FL

Washington, D.C. — The Asian Pacific American Republican Network says the Republican National Convention from August 28-30 in Tampa, FL, clearly showed who Asian Pacific Americans should support to lead our country forward in this difficult time.

The Network says Romney extols America’s spirit of freedom and entrepreneurship and to build our own businesses and careers.

The Network says Romney believes that hard-working individuals should keep more of their earnings instead of funding inefficient and wasteful government programs. Therefore, taxes should be kept as low as possible.

Read More: http://aapress.com/editorial/apia-in-support-of-romney/  




Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell address the Asian-Republican Summit.

Live From Tampa: Asian-Republican Summit A Huge Success

After several busy weeks and literally hundreds of e-mails, the first Asian-American Republican Summit attracted a huge crowd at the stately St. Petersburg Lyceum.

 Board of Equalization Member Michelle Steel, Steven Fong, Susie and Joel Angeles were heroes! It putting together this event, these four really pulled off a feat!

Without seeking anyone’s permission they put on a really great, quality event! But it was not an easy endeavor. First they had to secure an available venue. Secondly they had arrange for private transportation for people to get there.

Finally they had to put together a list of top notch speakers that would attract a large number of Asian-American Republican. When the Honorable Elaine Chao, Secretary of Labor in the administration of President George W. Bush, agreed to Michelle’s request that she’d be the featured speaker — that led to a cascade of elected Asian Republican officials to want to attend the Summit! Quite by surprise Leehan Chin, Governor Romney’s policy director and all around wunderkind spontaneously accepted Michelle’s invitation and the summit committee was off to the races. Read More:

http://www.flashreport.org/blog/2012/08/27/live-from-tampa-asian-republican-summit-a-huge-success/

Satirical Tweet and photo by Democratic campaign staffer Kelly Steele aimed at Republican candidate for governor Rob McKenna leads to calls for apology

 

The photograph of Rob McKenna at last week’s Asian Pacific American Community Summit in Tacoma has been making the rounds on the web. It shows McKenna waiting for the sometimes lengthy translations of his and Jay Inslee’s answers during a joint appearance at the summit held every four years.

While it is not exactly flattering, it doesn’t display anything more than a guy having to stand on a stage with a neutral expression while a dozen translations of various Asian and Pacific Islander languages were completed.

Continue reading → http://blog.thenewstribune.com/politics/2012/09/27/satirical-tweet-and-photo-by-democratic-campaign-staffer-kelly-steele-aimed-at-republican-candidate-for-governor-rob-mckenna-leads-to-calls-for-apology/#storylink=cpy  

The Asian-American dream and the Republican Party

 

By Michelle Mai Selesky

Senator Rand Paul in his speech to the Republican National Convention Wednesday night highlighted the personal stories of Southeast Asian immigrants, including the Taing family from Cambodia and Vietnamese brothers Hung and Thuan Trinh, who risked their lives to sail to America on a boat from Vietnam. He told us about the risk they took to flee their war-torn countries – a risk often unimaginable to many of us born in the United States – to find freedom, peace and opportunity in the country we call home.

As a second-generation Vietnamese-American, I was proud and encouraged to see Republicans not only praising immigrants who worked hard to build their own success, but calling attention to the often politically-overlooked group of Americans who so embody the American dream and are increasingly important to the future of our country.

Some interesting facts to consider: Asians recently surpassed Hispanics to become the largest group of immigrants to the United States, with Asians approaching 40 percent of immigrants in 2009 while immigrants of Hispanic origin were just over 30 percent. To add to that, the number of Asian-Americans running for Congress this year has more than tripled since 2008.

Republicans take note: As the Asian-American population continues to grow and become more and more politically engaged we have a huge opportunity – and a huge responsibility – to include Asian-Americans into our party that promotes and defends our shared values of family, small business ownership, and freedom from big government.

Continue reading → http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2012/08/31/asian-american-dream-and-republican-party/#ixzz27skxlXDQ


Michelle Mai Selesky is the Communications Coordinator at Gingrich Communications where she orchestrates radio and media opportunities for the former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich and his co-authors, in addition to promoting speeches, book signings, Newt.org, and DVD and audio marketing. She also serves as the Communications Director of the Young Conservatives Coalition (YCC).

Michelle holds a Masters Degree in Political Management from the Graduate School of Political Management at George Washington University. In 2007, she graduated with honors from UCLA, where she earned a B.A. in Political Science and served as team captain of the UCLA Women's Gymnastics team. Before joining Gingrich Communications, Michelle was a production assistant intern at The Michael Reagan Show in Los Angeles. She currently works and resides in Washington, DC.