• Pinboard Links

    Flap’s Links and Comments for April 15th on 05:14

    These are my links for April 15th from 05:14 to 05:41:

    • Boston Marathon 2011 Guide: Where to Watch & Who to Look For – The 115th running of the Boston Marathon is on for Monday, April 18, 2011 and that's big news for Beantown. Every year, on the third Monday in April, at least 500,000 spectators turn up to watch more than 20,000 runners compete in the 26-mile race.

      Here's a comprehensive guide on how to watch the race, who to look for on the course (top runners, celebrity runners, and other notable names), and loads of other details to help you make the most of Marathon Monday.

    • Hispanic Growth Ahead of Political Participation – The Texas Tribune's Ross Ramsey makes an important point that often gets overlooked in the discussion about rapid Hispanic growth across the country.

      As the newly-released 2010 Census figures illustrate, the growth among Latinos across the country is impressive and has made battleground Southwestern states more Democratic in recent years. Democrats, like Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Chair Patty Murray are openly talking about contesting Texas in next year's Senate election

      But growth isn't the same as voter participation. And Hispanics aren't participating at nearly the same rate as non-Hispanics – and there are few signs that's changing anytime soon.

      Ramsey points to his home state of Texas as an example. The population of the Republican-friendly Dallas suburb of Collin County (782,341) is about the same as the Democratic-friendly, heavily-Hispanic El Paso County (800,647). But voter turnout last year was nearly twice as high in Collin County than in El Paso, 156,668 to 88,505.

      It's a similar situation in Arizona, where Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.) found himself in a surprisingly close contest last year, even though his district is majority-Hispanic and solidly Democratic. But voter participation there was just under 160,000 – one of the lowest totals in any House district in the country – meaning a relatively small proportion of Latinos actually showed up at the polls.

      It's something to consider as we look at the presidential battlegrounds, where President Obama is counting on significant Hispanic turnout and support to contest pivotal states like Florida, Nevada, Colorado and even Arizona. Democrats have been more effective at registering Hispanic voters in Nevada, but less so in Arizona and Texas where turnout has been anemic in many of the heavily-Hispanic seats.

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      President Obama will have a difficult time turning out Hispanic voters unless he turns up the PANDER machine pretty quickly.

      With a GOP House, any such attempt will go nowhere as will the Hispanic vote for him in 2012.

    • Employees Now Asking Companies to Leave California – While Sacramento remains fuzzy-headed about California's hostile business climate, the state is experiencing the fastest rate of company out-of-state and out-of-country relocations since I put a specialized tracking system into place two years ago. Activity from Jan. 1 through April 12 of this year shows that 69 California company disinvestment events have occurred, an average of 4.7 per week – greater than the 3.9 average per week last year. See more at Calif. ‘Disinvestment Events' Reach New High As Companies Opt for Other States, Nations posted yesterday.

      By the way, the number one location for California companies to relocate to, or to divert capital for facilities that in the past used to be built here, is Texas with 14 such events.

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      And, when utility costs go up because of legislation Jerry Brown signed this past week, more will leave or refuse to relocate to California.

      Yet, Lt Gov. Gavin Newsom goes to Texas?