Our story begins in the Illinois [State] Senate 5th District where the incumbent, African American Rickey Hendon has established a “colorful” reputation over the years:

For the last 15 years, Sen. Rickey Hendon has been known around the Statehouse for a style that’s streetwise but controversial, cultivating the larger-than-life persona of a filmmaker-turned-politico whose bravado often overshadows even his best intentions.

Now, as the West Side lawmaker who’s proud of his “Hollywood” nickname seeks to extend his tenure in the state Senate, two challengers are trying to turn that flashiness against him as Hendon faces his first serious re-election campaign.

Jonathan Bedi and AmySue Mertens are relative newcomers to Chicago politics, but both are honing in on what they see as Hendon’s big weaknesses: his conduct toward women, his promotion of a major casino gambling expansion over what they say is the district’s long-term economic health, and the assertion that Hendon is coasting. [Link]

One of the two challengers, Jonathan Bedi, has an Indian American heritage:

Jonathan Bedi is uniquely qualified to represent the diverse and dynamic 5th District in the Illinois Senate. Jonathan’s father is an immigrant from India, and his mother is Irish-American. Jonathan is proud of his multi-racial, multi-ethnic background. Jonathan has a long history of public service–serving as a public school teacher and community activist. Jonathan is an attorney who provided legal counsel to urban non-profit organizations and who recently served as assistant corporate counsel to one of Chicago’s leading manufacturing companies. [Link]

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As I’ve been thinking about the democratic front-runners, I’ve been taking note of how different desis have been choosing sides.

Key Clinton advisor Neera Tanden made it clear in the New Yorker Magazine that she thinks Obama is too soft for the dirty work of winning an election:

Advisers to Clinton told me that there is something naïve, even potentially fatal, in Obama’s vision of leading the country out of its current political battles… Obama will be annihilated by what members of the Clinton campaign call “the Republican attack machine.” Neera Tanden, the campaign’s policy director, … cautioned that the general election will be brutal. “You cannot let your guard down with these guys,” she said of right-wing politicians. “They take people’s strengths and make them weaknesses; if you give them an inch, they’ll take a mile. …Both of the Clintons have been through it and won before.” [Link]

From a more parochial perspective, the Clintons have a decades long association with South Asians:

No other candidate has raised more money from the Indian America community than Hillary Clinton. More Americans who trace their roots to India are working for Hillary Clinton. [Link]

As a young’un 16 years ago I worked a South Asian fund raiser at the Waldorf for the Candidate Bill Clinton (just after the Gennifer Flowers scandal). There’s a reason why Hillary herself cracked:

“I can certainly run for the senate seat in Punjab and win easily,”… [Link]

However, as the primary season (and general election) grew nearer, Hillary distanced herself from public appearances with Sikhs, perhaps to avoid more photos like these. Instead, she cancelled several fundraisers and refused to engage with issues that were important:

She stands up for the Sikh community when politically expedient. On the campaign trail, she made several cancellations to appear with Sikhs in public and refused to join Obama in supporting the Sikh Coalition’s appeal to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to protect turbans from searches at airports. [Link]

Many SM readers from here in the U.S. have friends or relatives currently abroad. Heck, some of our U.S. readers may be abroad right now. For the Democratic U.S. Citizens among them that haven’t yet filled out an absentee ballot, it is still possible to vote in the U.S. primary elections, even from abroad. From Newsweek:

London’s Porchester Hall–where Elton John celebrated his 47th birthday–is a most unlikely setting for American democracy in action. But the ornate Victorian hall, which also houses a library and gym, will host hundreds of expat U.S. Democrats next week in the international version of Super Tuesday. Democrats Abroad (DA)–the overseas arm of the U.S. Democratic Party–is considered as a state under Democratic Party rules and will send 22 delegates (the same number as New Hampshire) to Denver for the Democratic convention this summer. The Republican Party does not offer primary voting overseas and encourages members to vote by absentee ballot in their home states. [Link]

The catch is that they have to register online by THURSDAY NIGHT. If you think this isn’t an important demographic then you’re wrong:

In a very tight race, the leading candidates are taking the overseas vote seriously. Representatives of Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John Edwards (who dropped out of the race Wednesday) have been working to rally undecided voters in several countries. Karin Robinson, who works for a London recruitment firm, says she sees a huge difference between how John Kerry–whose campaign she also worked on–dealt with the overseas contingent and how Obama is reaching out. “[Obama’s] campaign has been extraordinary,” she says. “There are dedicated staff people who get in touch with us. I am sent daily talking points and we never have to beg for resources or information…” [Link]

If any of you go to an Expat voting location please send us pictures so we can share them. Continue reading →

The Democratic National Committee, a group consisting of party officials who guide the Democratic Party and are currently led by Howard Dean, have just selected three desi women and one man to positions within the party in preparation for the convention in Denver later this year. SM is determined to be on hand at said convention to hopefully see these new committee members in action, and to witness how/if South Asian Americans are making strides by integrating into all levels of political participation (including smoky back-room-type politics).

The executive committee of the Democratic National Committee has elected three Indian Americans to the standing committees at the 2008 Democratic National Convention, convening Aug. 25-28 in Denver, Colo.

Sunita Leeds, co-chair of the Washington, D.C.-based education-oriented Enfranchisement Foundation, was named one of the three co-chairs of the rules committee, which proposes convention rules, adopts an agenda and makes recommendations for permanent convention officers.

San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris and Smita Shah, founder and president of Chicago-based engineering and construction management company Spaan Technologies, were named to the platform committee, which drafts the party’s national platform.

In addition, Pakistan-born Iman Malik Mujahid, founder and president of Chicago-based Islamic teaching materials distributor Sound Vision Foundation, was named to the credentials committee, which coordinates selection of convention delegates and alternates. [Link]

Of course, all of these new members will have their personal favorite among the candidates. For example, despite the fact that Smita Shah is a former Bill Clinton appointee, she is backing Obama in this race:

Shah, who will be married in February, was a delegate to the Democratic national conventions in 1996 and 2004 and on the rules committee in the 2000 and 2004 conventions.

She said that the Indian American community has changed dramatically since 1996, when “there were just seven people of Indian origin as delegates.” There were about 19-21 in 2004 and many more are expected this August.

A former appointee to President Bill Clinton’s Millennium Council to Save America’s Treasures, Shah is supporting Barack Obama for president.

“I have great respect for them (the Clintons), but I have been a supporter of Barack Obama and they have been gracious and understanding to me. They know I have to support my guy…” [Link]

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A few weeks ago Little India published an article spotlighting some of the Indian American “bundlers” that will be playing a big part in the behind-the-scenes money war this primary season. At least half of them (a group aptly titled “Hillraisers”) will be sending their money Senator Hillary Clinton’s way:

Federal law caps personal contributions in an election cycle to $2,300, limiting individual donations to a presidential campaign to $4,600, as the primaries and the general election count as separate elections.

The way major presidential campaign donors stick out among the tens of thousands who make the maximum permissible contribution is not on the strength of their individual donation as much as by becoming “bundlers.” These bundlers typically package and bundle donations from friends, family, business and professional associates, etc., by hosting private and public fundraising events. Bundlers account for nearly half of the almost $160 million raised collectively by Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama in the first three quarter of 2007.

A Little India analysis of the 2,493 bundlers in the 2008 presidential campaign identified thus far by the public interest watchdog group Public Citizen revealed 21 Indian American bundlers, almost half of whom work on behalf of Sen. Clinton. Sen. Obama has six Indian American bundlers, followed by two each for Sen. John Edwards and Gov Mitt Romney and one for Sen. John McCain. None of the other candidates listed any Indian American bundlers. [Link]

For those of you hearing the term “bundlers” for the time, here is an excellent reference. The biggest bundler is someone we’ve blogged about before, most recently in a post by Amardeep last September: Hotelier Sant Singh Chatwal.

Bundlers are far more valuable than the legions of individual donors on whom candidates, and indeed the bundlers rely, as is illustrated by Sen. Clinton’s most visible Indian American bundler, the hotelier Sant Singh Chatwal. Chatwal, whose association with the Clintons dates back to Pres. Clinton’s first primary campaign in 1991, has reportedly raised $3 million for Sen. Clinton, headlined by a 1,200 person dinner in June 2007. He told Little India that he was confident that Indian Americans would easily top $5 million for her campaign. But Chatwal had not pitched in his own personal contribution to her campaign, as of the third quarter of 2007, according to records of the Federal Election Commission. However, several members of his family, including his wife Pardaman Chatwal, and two sons Vivek Chatwal and Vikram Chatwal (who is listed as a $100,000 bundler himself) contributed $4,200 apiece to Sen. Clinton’s primary and general election campaigns. [Link]