APIs Weigh In at USC Post-Debate Event
By ELLEN ENDO
Contributing Writer
Saturday, Oct. 18, 2008

Bipartisan group of Asian Americans gather to listen, assess the final debate of the presidential campaign.

Photos by Associated Press
Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama and Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain talk during their final presidential debate on Wednesday at Hofstra University in New York.

Members of the USC Alumni gather to watch Thursday’s presidential debate.

While presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain faced off at New York’s Hofstra University for the third and final Presidential debate on Wednesday, Asian Americans in Los Angeles reacted to statements by the candidates, then added a few of their own.

Organized by the USC Asian Pacific Alumni Associa­tion (APAA), the debate-viewing was watched by a bipar­tisan crowd of about 80 students and alumni and included post-debate commentary from Assemblymembers Ted Lieu (D-53rd) and George Plescia (R-75th), surrogates representing Obama and McCain, respectively.

Following the broadcast focused on health care, the economy, negative campaigning, vice presidential choices, and energy, those attending the USC event wanted to know where Asian Americans will factor into the election.

Lieu noted that the Obama campaign includes support from Asian American officials, including Congressional representatives Mike Honda and Doris Matsui as well as former U.S. Secretary of Transportation Norman Y. Mi­neta, who early on supported Obama over Hillary Clinton. Mineta, one-time Congressman from San Jose, was first appointed by President Bill Clinton.

“A blueprint for Americans has been rolled out by Obama, and there is an Asian Americans for Obama web site,” Lieu stated. Obama’s sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng, is half-Indo­nesian and Obama’s brother-in-law is Chinese American.

“This was John McCain’s best debate of the three,” stated Plescia, who began actively supporting McCain in January 2007. Plescia, who represents the San Diego area, wants to see Republicans do a better job of reaching out to APIs. The Asian & Pacific Americans for John McCain Coalition, coordinated by Peter Su, is based out of of Arlington, Va.

One attendee asked if the “Bradley effect” would impact the election results, referring to the 1982 Cali­fornia gubernatorial race in which Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley, an African American, narrowly lost to Republican George Deukmejian despite pre-election polls in Bradley’s favor. Some theorized that white vot­ers were giving inaccurate polling responses to conceal the appearance of racial prejudice.

Both Lieu and Plescia believed that the Bradley effect would not be a factor this time.

One participant criticized the media for “dumbing down” election coverage, noting that there is very little extensive reporting of the issues. “Even newspaper articles are shorter,” the attendee observed.

Emmy-winning television producer Frank Kwan, who moderated the discussion, pointed out that the news media tends to reduce coverage to sound bites.

“The discussion turned out well,” said USC APAA president Jon Kaji, “I feel it was balanced.” The USC gathering was chaired by Jennifer Lum and coordinated by Grace Shiba, senior director, USC Alumni Relations, and USC APAA associate director Alex Chang.

Co-sponsors included the USC Asian Pacific Law School Assembly, USC Asian Pacific American Student Services, USC Graduate and Professional Students, and the USC Asian Pacific American Student Assembly.