Clinton, McCain and Obama Reach Out to Asian-Americans

by Anam Siddiq and Daniel Johnson
New University, May 19, 2008

Students, congressmen and community members from all over California gathered for the first-ever Asian and Pacific Islander American Vote Presidential Town Hall meeting at the Bren Events Center. The May 17 conference included both entertainment as well as serious discussion. It was hosted in hopes of encouraging more votership amongst the Asian community and to spread awareness of the presidential candidates’ views on issues they would find relevant.

The event, which was streamed live on 15 Web sites, was not advertised far in advance, but nevertheless hyped the appearance of one, if not all, of the three presidential candidates at the forum. New York Senator Hillary Clinton’s attendance seemed like a sure bet until a few days before the meeting, but all three senators were absent on the day of.

Instead, Clinton appeared on megascreens via satellite feed to answer previously formulated questions regarding topics such as immigration reform and hiring Asian American staff members. Shortly thereafter, Illinois Senator Barack Obama participated in a live telephone conversation in which he responded to similar questions asked by concerned Asian-American community members.

Arizona Senator John McCain, who was last to be represented, was not able to attend because he was in New York taping “Saturday Night Live.” California State Assemblyman Van Tran spoke on McCain’s behalf and encouraged the audience to watch the program later that night.

Actress Tamlyn Tomita, who has appeared in such films as “The Day After Tomorrow” and “The Joy Luck Club,” played the lively emcee for the forum. She introduced the government officials who were part of each of the candidates’ respective campaigns in California, and who would be presenting the senators to the audience that day.

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