The "Z" Factor

So here you have it folks, Bob Menendez, loyal, life-long, party line toting Democrat, House Minority Whip, stupendous fundraiser, Cuban-American. Bob, “Bobby” as we called him on “The Hill” was passed over to run for the Senate seat vacated by his friend and mentor Robert Torricelli. Hmm..why was that? The Democratic machine gave the spot on the ballot to Lautenberg the Dinosaur.

When Corzine resigned to become governor, again hemming and hawing.. hmm.. wonder why? Well, the Democrats with all their talk about how they love minorities, really don’t specially Cubans. Eventually the Dems relented and appointed him to the vacated senate seat , but only after Menendez threatened to run as an independent anyway. Menendez is running against and-old republican dynastical candidate Tom Kean (the 17th or something like that). And now, in a state that is totally controlled by Democrats, that votes like 105% Democratic,( depending on how many voters are called to leave their graves to show up at the polls), He’s behind in the polls. How can that be? In Jersey all you have to do to get elected is have a D next to your name!

Here we have the reason:

Form USA Today:

"I'll be blunt. It's not a nice thing to say about New Jersey, but being a Latino may be costing him in some parts of the state," says David Rebovich, a political scientist at Rider University.

Even so, some Hispanic voters think pro- and anti-immigrant feelings will play a role in the campaign. Rick Perez, a Cuban-American who lives in West New York, says many voters in New Jersey's diverse Hispanic community will vote for Menendez because of "the Z factor," referring to the last letter of many Hispanic surnames.

Read the article here.

Jersey is not the only State where people have “reservations” about voting for a Hispanic. If you recall, when Mel Martinez was elected to the senate in the red State of Florida, He received a few percentage points less than George Bush. Which means that some folks were splitting tickets because of the “Z” factor.

El Zorro