Filipino Republicans gather to Watch Presidential Debate

 

                        


LOS ANGELES, Calif–All eyes were on the second presidential face-off between the incumbent President Barack Obama and his challenger Governor Mitt Romney on Tuesday night. During the 90-minute town hall style debate, both candidates touched on the economy, the environment, and gun control.

There was that question of when the White House fully acknowledged that terrorists attacked the U.S. consulate in Benghazi. And then there was the expected attempt to appeal to women voters, with Romney flip flopping on his stand on contraceptives.

Filipino Republicans gathered a private home in Monterey Park to watch the debate hoping that Romney can solidify his campaign.

“Romey is sustaining his ability to lead and I think Obama is not making a difference now. It’s just the same Obama talking about not knowing or accepting his problems during his 4 years,” said California Republican delegate Cecil Ramos.

 

Continue reading → http://www.balitangamerica.tv/filipino-republicans-and-democrats-both-believe-they-won-2nd-debate-2/

 

 

Fil-Am GOP Leader Lauds Romney-Ryan Economic Plan

SAN FRANCISCO – About 30 Filipino-American seniors from all over the Bay Area gathered Thursday morning at a community center in a largely Filipino enclave in the heart of San Francisco’s South of Market district.

Along with their regular breakfast and a mental health workshop, Rudy Asercion, who directs the West Bay Filipino Multi-Services Inc., also served up a good dose of politics, rallying them to register and vote. He also invited them to the center that evening to watch the vice presidential candidates Joe Biden and Paul Ryan in their first and only televised debate.

A recent national survey of Asian American voters found that Filipinos show the highest level of support for GOP presidential candidate Gov. Mitt Romney. But, at this local debate-watching party at West Bay, opinions are split among supporters of him and Pres. Obama , with some voters still undecided about whom to support.

Watching the debate, Asercion says Congressman Ryan hammered two key issues that resonate strongly with the Filipino electorate: the economy and health care.

Asercion is the chair of the National Organization of Filipino-American Republicans and an elected member of the San Francisco Republican Party Central Committee.

Continue reading → http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=9a37c343636310f31c2aa3225526d30f

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.

Mitt Romney's Message to Asian Americans

2012 Asian Americans & Pacific Islanders Republican Convention

RSVP, PLEASE CONTACT STEPHEN FONG --  swfong AT comfast.net

Romney must win over Asian voters

If Mitt Romney wants to reach 270 electoral votes, and win the presidency, he must aggressively target Asian-American voters.

Asians -- Chinese, Japanese, Indians, Filipinos, Vietnamese and Koreans -- are the nation's wealthiest, most highly educated and most aspirational voting demographic. Their numbers have grown by more than 40 percent in the last decade, and they are concentrated in key electoral battleground states like Nevada, Michigan, Colorado, Ohio, Florida, Virginia and Pennsylvania.


Despite surveys showing Asian-Americans as more favorable toward Obama and government than the general public, their actual voting behavior in recent elections offers Romney an opportunity. Look to 2009, the year Republicans recovered from the Obama blowout and stormed back to retake the governorships of Virginia and New Jersey.

Republican Bob McDonnell targeted Asian-Americans energetically, even though they constitute just 5.9 percent of Virginians. He employed multiple strategies, such as asking Asian business owners to publicly communicate their support by putting McDonnell signs in their storefronts. His campaign communicated with Asian-American voters in their native languages in everything from mailers to radio ads to yard signs. A postelection survey of Asian-American voters in Northern Virginia found that nearly 60 percent voted for McDonnell.

Middlesex, New Jersey's second most populous county, is a perennial Democratic bastion, but in 2009, it went for Chris Christie by 48 percent to 44 percent -- almost precisely his statewide margin. Not coincidentally, Middlesex now has among the highest percentages of Asian-Americans outside of Hawaii and the San Francisco Bay area.

Asian-American voters are not immune to the national backlash against Obama's big government blowout. Their values and attitudes, by and large, hew more closely to the GOP economic policies, emphasizing hard work, parental involvement in education, the permanence of marriage and family unity. They link success to individual achievement rather than government beneficence.
Romney doesn't need to win the Asian-American vote outright. It would be enough to improve substantially on the 35 percent that John McCain won. Given the clusters of Asian-American voters who now reside in battleground states, a serious outreach strategy along the lines of McDonnell's successful gubernatorial campaign illuminates a pathway to victory.

There are hundreds of media outlets in battleground states through which Romney can reach Asian-American voters cheaply in their native languages -- especially to Korean, Vietnamese and Filipino audiences, where pro-Republican sentiment is strongest. The Korean Times, for example, has 13 bureaus in the U.S. and a daily edition circulation larger than the Los Angeles Times.

Nevada, Michigan, Colorado, Ohio, Florida, Virginia and Pennsylvania between them hold 111 of the 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency. Obama carried them all in 2008. Romney needs to flip them. Asian-Americans comprise, on average, 3.8 percent of the population of those states, which could exceed the margin in a close election. A relatively modest investment by Team Romney in Asian outreach, out of the tens of millions it will pour into these states, could put him in the White House. And if, as Democratic strategists fear, turnout by Asian-Americans and other minorities falls below 2008 levels, the decline would occur chiefly among Obama supporters, amplifying any inroads that Romney makes.

The stakes for the future of liberty and limited government are simply too high for the Romney campaign to leave any stone unturned in the search for voters. By dedicating real resources to a sustained, strategic campaign of messaging and get-out-the-vote aimed at Asian-American voters, Romney will not only win the White House, but also lay the foundation for a new Republican majority with the fast-growing Asian voting population as a key pillar.

http://washingtonexaminer.com/romney-must-win-over-asian-voters/article/2503341

Shawn Steel is California's Republican National Committeeman and a former chairman of the California Republican Party.

Asian Americans For Mitt Romney

PoliticalNews.me - Aug 03,2012 - Mitt Romney Announces Asian Americans & Pacific Islanders For Romney Community

Mitt Romney announced his Asian Americans & Pacific Islanders for Romney community.

“Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders have wonderful cultures that enrich all of America,” said Mitt Romney. “For generations, members of this community have contributed to our country, started new businesses and invented new products, and served with honor and distinction in the fight to protect freedom all around the world. I am honored to have the support of such great Asian Americans, and look forward to working with them to get our country on the right track again.”

“I am honored that Governor Mitt Romney asked me to serve as the national chair of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders for Romney,” said former Labor Secretary Elaine L. Chao. “Having worked in previous presidential administrations, I know Governor Mitt Romney has the experience and the character to tackle the problems that are facing our nation. Americans are suffering, and it will take new leadership to put this country on a path to prosperity and full employment.”

“I am pleased and honored to serve as a national co-chair for Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders for Romney,” said Universal Health Care CEO Akshay Desai. “As a businessman, I know all too well what it takes to make it in the private sector. When I hear President Obama tell small business people that “somebody else” made their success happen, I know that he is not cut out to turn around our economy. Mitt Romney is the change we so desperately need, and I look forward to having him in the White House.”

National Chair

Elaine L. Chao, 24th U.S. Secretary of Labor (2001-2009)

National Co-Chairs

Congressman Steve Austria (R-OH)
Akshay Desai, CEO of Universal Healthcare
Former Assistant U.S. Attorney General Viet Dinh
Former Congressman Charles Djou, (R-HI)
Former Director of the U.S. Mint Edmund Moy
Former Congresswoman Patricia Saiki, (R-HI)
Ambassador Sichan Siv

http://www.mittromney.com/coalitions/asian-americans-and-pacific-islanders-for-romney