Transcript: Antonio Villaraigosa On Latino Voters And Hillary Clinton
© National Journal Group Inc.
Monday, Feb. 4, 2008
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National Journal's Linda Douglass sat down with Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa for the Feb. 1 edition of "National Journal On Air." This is a transcript of their conversation.
Audio of the full show is also available.
Q: I want to welcome this morning's guest, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. Welcome, Mr. Mayor. We understand you are supporting Hillary Clinton?
Villaraigosa: I am and I have been for almost a year.Q: So let's talk a little bit about what's being said in the campaign now as the candidates hurtle out toward California. Barack Obama suggested in a very strong speech this week in Denver that Hillary Clinton is not electable because she is polarizing, and he was making the case in this speech that he is the more electable of the two candidates. Is he wrong about electability? Is she more electable?
Villaraigosa:Well, I'll leave that to the pundits. I'll just say she just comes off a resounding win in Florida, she won Nevada against all odds, she won New Hampshire. And I believe she will win California, New York, New Jersey and many of the delegates who are going to be up for grabs on February 5th.Q: You are perhaps the most high-profile Latino officeholder in California. Why does Hillary Clinton do so well with Latino voters?
Villaraigosa: They know her. They've worked with her and her husband over the years. They remember the Clinton years. They were good years for Latinos, but good years for working families across the nation. Our economy was booming. The citizenship backlog was reduced dramatically under the Clinton administration. They remember her efforts for universal coverage because, disproportionately, so many Latinos don't have health care. They remember the great work she did for the S-CHIP program, where millions of kids have health care. They remember the Hope VI effort to provide housing for those who don't have it. They remember her on the merits, and they remember her very fondly.Q: You know the pollster Sergio Bendixen, who does surveys of Latino voters, told the New Yorker magazine that Hispanic voters have not shown a lot of willingness to support black candidates, that's what he said. Is there a problem between Latinos and African-Americans in California?
Villaraigosa: Absolutely not. Remember, it was Latino voters who joined African-Americans and Jews and a broad cross-section of Angelinos in four of the five elections supporting Tom Bradley as mayor. They supported him in overwhelming numbers when he ran for governor two times.Q: Tom Bradley being an African-American.
Villaraigosa Yes, and frankly, a man who opened the door for me and gave me the opportunity to be mayor of Los Angeles. They supported him in large numbers, part of a broad coalition to elect Mayor [Harold] Washington in Chicago and Mayor [David] Dinkins in New York. So that kind of thinking, frankly, doesn't reflect the record or reality.Q: How do you think that Ted Kennedy's endorsement of Barack Obama will affect voters in California?
Villaraigosa: I have a great deal of respect for Ted Kennedy. He has been an icon of our party and a stalwart Democrat whose legislation has represented the core values of our party. Obviously, he's going to campaign hard for his candidate. I think, though, he would concede that most voters vote for a candidate based on their record, experience and leadership. And while endorsements are important, they make those decisions primarily on experience, record, leadership and the policies that they are putting forward.Q: Final question, sir. What do you think about the role that Bill Clinton is playing in her campaign?
Villaraigosa: President Clinton is one of the most important assets that Senator Clinton has. He's a man who people in our party and people across the country respect for the great job he did as president of the United States. But even President Clinton would say this campaign is about Senator Clinton. It's about her experience, her track record, her strength and her leadership. I can tell you that because of those assets of hers, I'm supporting her, and I believe she's going to do very well here in California and do very well across the country on February 5th.Q: Well, thanks so much to Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. Such a pleasure to speak with you. I hope you'll come back on the program again.
Villaraigosa: A pleasure to speak with you as well. Thank you for having me.