(Latin Pulse: 8, September 2008) As the United States prepares to elect its next president, the world watches closely. Some see it as the election of the most powerful man in the world. For the first time in the U.S. history, an African American candidate is on the ballot.

Thousands of foreigners are rushing to become U.S. citizens so they can cast their vote this November. Most are concerned about how this election will affect them; others are looking at the policies the new president might change. Who they will vote for is something only they know, but what is clear is that this is an election unlike any other.

Español

Los Estados Unidos se preparan para elegir a su próximo presidente y el mundo esta observando de cerca. Algunos lo ven como la elección del hombre más poderoso del mundo. Por la primera vez en el proceso electoral de los Estados Unidos, hay un candidato Afro Americano en la lista.

Miles de extranjeros residentes se están dando prisa para hacerse ciudadanos estadounidenses y poder votar en las próximas elecciones en noviembre. Muchos de ellos están preocupados por cómo esta elección les afectará, otros están echándole una mirada a los cambios en las políticas que el nuevo presidente podría efectuar.

¿Por quién van a votar? Solamente ellos lo saben, lo que sí es ya claro es que esta elección es como antes ninguna otra.

Panelists

Brigitte Davila
Professor
San Francisco State University

Brigitte is from Los Angeles, with roots in Colorado and New Mexico. She has taught in the Race Studies Department for the last six years. Among her classes are: Government and Constitutional Ideals; Race in California; Community Organizing; as well as courses in Critical Thinking. Currently, her area of focus is law and public policy, with an emphasis on community activism.

As program director of Raza Studies Community Service Learning Program, she has the opportunity to work closely with community-based organizations actively supporting Raza. She has received acknowledgment for her innovative community service learning curricula.

Leonard J. Lacayo
Vice Chair Communications, Republican Party
12th Assembly District Member
Leo is the most prominent Republican media spokesperson in Northern California with hundreds of television and radio interviews to his credit. Leo is presently deputy chair for the McCain-Palin '08 campaign’s San Francisco office.
He was the founding chairman of the San Francisco Hispanic Republican Assembly, the immediate past RNHA Vice Chair for Northern California, founded Operation Justice for All, and was a frequent political blog writer until 2004. Leo serves on the board of directors of The California Association of Immigration Consultants, The Nicaragua Relief Fund, Inc., and is an active media spokesperson.
Mr. Lacayo founded Lacayo & Associates in 1986, which specializes in immigration consultancy and tax preparation, located in The Ronald Reagan Building in Bernal Heights. In 1992, he founded Computrend and, in 2002, Lacayo Properties. He will leave the committee on November 5, 2008 to establish a new blog, as well as a radio and television program to help revive American values and patriotism in response to the political left.
Leo is an alumunus of La Salle's Instituto Pedagogico de Managua in Nicaragua, Universidad Centroamericana Law School, and has attended Harvard Extension INCAE and the University of San Francisco.
Mark Hugo Lopez
Associate Director
Pew Hispanic Center

Mark Hugo Lopez is the associate director of the Pew Hispanic Center. At the Center, Lopez studies political engagement among Latinos – especially young Latinos -– and helps to coordinate the Center’s national surveys. Prior to joining the Center, Lopez served as Research Director at the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) at the University of Maryland. Through his work at CIRCLE, he has studied young people's electoral participation, the civic engagement of immigrants, young people's views of the first amendment, and the link between college attendance and civic engagement. Lopez also works as a visiting professor at the University of Maryland’s School of Public Policy.

Lopez currently serves as the chair of the Association of Public Policy Analysis and Management’s (APPAM) Diversity Committee. He also serves as the Second Vice President of the American Society of Hispanic Economists (ASHE), and as a member of the American Economic Association’s Committee on the Status of Minority Groups in the Economics Profession (CSMGEP). While a professor at the School of Public Policy at the University of Maryland, he served as the faculty chair of the Maryland Junior Summer Institute for minority students interested in careers in international affairs.

Lopez joined the Pew Hispanic Center in January of 2008. Lopez received his Ph.D. in Economics from Princeton University in 1996.

Kevin Casas-Zamora
Senior Fellow
Brookings Institute

Kevin is a senior fellow in Foreign Policy at Brookings’ Latin America Initiative. Most recently, Casas-Zamora served as Costa Rica’s vice-president, as well as Minister of National Planning and Economic Policy. He has authored several studies on political finance, elections, democratization, and civil military relations in Latin America.

Maria Antonieta Mejia
Managing Editor
El Mensajero, San Francisco

Maria was born in Mexico DF and attended journalism school there. She has worked in the U.S. as a freelance journalist for TV and print outlets; currently, Maria is the managing editor for the Spanish language San Francisco newspaper “El Mensajero”, an affiliate of the Los Angeles based newspaper “La Opinion”.

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