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Sen. Martin Sandoval was one of just a tiny handful
of Illinois Democratic state legislators who backed Hillary Clinton’s
presidential bid over local favorite Barack Obama. Sandoval’s Chicago district and most of
Chicagoland’s Latino precincts went for Clinton in the February
primary, so it was probably a smart move, plus Sandoval has been engaged in
a full-blown Statehouse war with Senate President Emil Jones for well over
a year, so backing Clinton against Jones’ political godson had its
“stick in the eye” advantages. Unsurprisingly, Clinton’s defeat hasn’t
automatically put Sandoval in the Obama camp. Sandoval met privately with Republican presidential
candidate John McCain last week, and he told the Associated Press the next
day that he was leaving open the possibility of endorsing the man. Sandoval tells me that McCain promised to be an
advocate for Latino issues. McCain, Sandoval says, did not ask him for an
endorsement but did ask that they continue to meet, which Sandoval agreed
to do. McCain was also apparently aware that Sandoval was on
the outs with many of his Senate Democratic colleagues because of the fight
with Jones, and McCain used that division to his advantage during the
meeting. Immigration reform has been a political problem for
McCain. His push last year for a bipartisan solution to the situation
earned him heaps of scorn from the right wing of his party and just about
killed off his candidacy. He started to gain ground around the time that he
started to change his tune on the issue. McCain reminded Sandoval that the last president to
do anything major about immigration reform was a Republican: Ronald Reagan.
Sandoval claims McCain told him that the immigration issue would be
“one of the hallmarks of my presidency.” Reagan’s
immigration policy included an amnesty program for those here illegally,
but McCain never uttered the A-word. “I’m a Democrat, but I’m not wedded
to any political party,” Sandoval tells me. “You need to reach
out to us, meet with us, make us part of the strategy. If that’s not
there, then I’m not with them,” he says of Obama’s
campaign. Sandoval dismisses a recent poll of 800 Latino voters
in 21 states showing Obama with a huge 60-23 lead over McCain, claiming
that the numbers will be a lot closer once Latino voters are in the privacy
of the voting booth. Sandoval also dismisses Obama’s recent hiring
of Chicago Latina leader Patti Solis Doyle, who was forced out of the
Clinton campaign after several missteps. Hiring Doyle, the sister of a Chicago alderman, may be
Obama’s “gesture to the community,” Sandoval says, but it
won’t be nearly enough. Obama, he says, “needs to reach out to
Latino community leaders, people like myself, and have a dialogue.”
There’s little doubt that McCain would love to
have a Democratic legislator from Obama’s home state on his campaign
team. The propaganda advantages would be enormous, regardless of the
reasons for Sandoval’s defection. Sandoval, though, is still hesitant to make the big
move, and he’s blatantly telegraphing his message to Obama: His needs
ought to be considered. Sandoval’s flirtation with McCain while his hand
is stretched outward (palms up) towards Obama is as old as politics itself,
but the situation is a marvelous confluence of opportunities for Sandoval:
He can be the shining star of McCain’s Latino outreach effort, or
secure some influence within the Obama campaign, while sticking it to his
nemesis Jones yet again no matter what he does.
Cynical? Yep. Opportunistic? Oh yeah. But
that’s hardball politics, my friends. Come to think of it, there is one downside. The Obama
campaign could dirty Sandoval up in an effort to make him too radioactive
for McCain. That would be the “Chicago way.”
We’ll see how it goes.
Rich Miller
publishes Capitol Fax, a daily political newsletter, and
thecapitolfaxblog.com.
This article appears in Jun 19-25, 2008.
