India Post News Service

NEW YORK: With the Iowa Caucuses and the New Hampshire primaries throwing up some unexpected and dramatically significant trends in the Presidential elections, the Indian American community is thrilled to be playing an active part in the historic process.

As the front running candidates – both Democratic and Republican – frantically prepare to face Super Tuesday (February 5th Primaries), Indian Americans have jumped in with both feet to make their presence felt through canvassing, volunteering and some working very closely with the candidates as part of their entourage.

The Obama Camp

In the Obama camp, volunteers of the South Asians for Obama (SAFO) have been playing an important role in canvassing and get-out-the-vote efforts, which they feel have helped the Illinois Senator win the Iowa Caucus. "SAFO has been hosting monthly phone banking nights since August, calling South Asian Americans in Iowa to encourage them to participate in the caucuses," said Priya Bhatia, a SAFO co-founder.

"Our goal was to have real conversations with Iowans to explain why we support Senator Obama – and why we hoped they would, too." In the closing weeks of the campaign in Iowa, South Asian American volunteers – including Asim Mishra and Palak Shah – braved the cold weather in Iowa to ensure that Obama’s rising poll numbers translated into actual participation in the caucuses. Preeta Bansal, former Solicitor General of New York State and currently a partner at a major New York City law firm, also offered her personal testimonials on behalf of Obama to families and community groups in Iowa.

And South Asian American actor Kal Penn made multiple appearances in Iowa throughout December to speak in support of Senator Obama. These efforts were complemented by the tireless efforts of South Asian Americans on Senator Obama’s campaign staff, including Rohan Patel and Madhuri Kommareddi, who helped coordinate and mobilize an unprecedented get-out-the-vote effort across the entire state. More broadly, South Asian political participation was bolstered by the efforts of Rita Arora, Eastern Chapter Vice President of the Iowa Asian Alliance, a non-partisan community-based organization, who facilitated caucus training sessions to educate the community about the often-confusing caucus process.

"On January 3, Iowa gave America hope for the New Year by placing its trust and confidence in Senator Obama to lead this country," said Ann Lata Kalayil, co-chair of Obama’s AAPI National Leadership Council. "Many South Asian Americans around the country are proud to be part of this movement, as we did phone banking, political education, and get-out-the-vote activities." The effort has not stopped in Iowa.

"Although the Iowa victory is a significant accomplishment, we still have much more work to do in our effort to mobilize the South Asian American community in this campaign," noted SAFO co-founder Hrishi Karthikeyan. SAFO organized and participated in get-out-the-vote efforts in New Hampshire and continues to do so in other states leading up to the Super Tuesday primaries. Even before the Iowa caucuses began, volunteers such as Theresa Thanjan were on the ground in Nashua, New Hampshire, spending the weekend working with the campaign field office to help Senator Obama. SAFO co-founder Dave Kumar, who is planning a trip to South Carolina for the Jan 26 primary in that state, said: "Unprecedented numbers of first-time caucus goers supported Senator Obama in Iowa, demonstrating the impact that even those who typically feel left out of the political process can make on selecting our next President.

We hope that more people will volunteer to help Senator Obama’s campaign and show the continued importance of the South Asian community to the political process." Subodh Chandra, former Director of Law for the City of Cleveland and former Democratic candidate for Ohio Attorney General, observed, "Many South Asian Americans tend to support incumbents or perceived incumbents without looking more deeply at the question of whose life experience best represents our own hope and aspirations.

I hope successful South Asian American efforts to help Senator Obama win Iowa and other early states will help our community overcome that inertia – because Senator Obama, unlike any other candidate, is basically one of us." Bansal noted, "Senator Obama stands for and represents the best of what America is and can be.

The results in Iowa validate what middle America understands and what South Asian Americans across the country increasingly are realizing: that as we try to work to clean up America’s image and policy toward the world and its policies at home, we can have no better leader than Senator Obama, a self-made man who understands that we must lead by the example of our ideals and our actions. Being in Iowa this past week was a vivid reminder of all that’s great about this unique and great country."

Added Kalayil, "Our network of Obama supporters is fired up and ready to go!"

The Hillary Camp

"Like it or not, it’s a two-person team, which to me is very positive," says Prakash Shah, of Hillary Clinton’s candidacy for President, in which her husband and former President Bill Clinton appears to come as a package deal. A long time Democrat and a key fundraiser for Hillary Clinton, Shah says it goes to the advantage of Hillary that she would continue to have the guidance from her husband.

Terming the Iowa Caucuses and the New Hampshire primaries as not really representative of popular public opinion, Prakash Shah and long time Democrat and active fundraiser for Senator Hillary Clinton says, "Just before Super Tuesday – following the primaries in Nevada, South Carolina, Michigan and Florida— Hillary will be leading 3 to 1 on the delegate count, and after Super Tuesday, her delegate count will go over 1500." Shah, who spoke to India Post just prior to leaving along with his wife Rajul, for campaigning in Nevada for the primaries there, said of Clinton, "Not just amongst Democrats but overall, I continue to believe that Hillary makes for the best President for the country because of her strong experience, and having gone through past election efforts with President Bill Clinton." As for the Indian American community’s involvement in the Clinton campaign, Shah says, "The community is involved at many levels.

A number of us are delegates for Hillary. All over the country Hillary will have 30-40 delegates pledged to her from our community, and that’s huge considering the size of our population. Also, we have raised a lot of money for her— probably as much as 5 percent of her money raised came from Indian Americans, which is again proportionately very large for our community. My own total (in funds raised) is $500,000. We have done phenomenally well for her." In terms of positions, quite a few Indian Americans are part of Hillary Clinton’s entourage, and are part of all kinds of campaign committees.

"There are also a whole lot of Indian American volunteers, so our involvement in these elections has become very satisfying," said Shah.

The Non-partisan Camp

Meanwhile, the non-partisan US-India Political Action Committee (USINPAC) commended the Indian-Americans in New Hampshire for their unprecedented historic participation in the New Hampshire Primary.

USINPAC’s New Hampshire Chapter has been active in the state for over a year now. Latha Mangipudi, the Chair of USINPAC-NH, said: "Indian-Americans in this state have attended events with every major Presidential candidate including Clinton, Obama, Romney, Giuliani, McCain, Thompson, and Edwards.

I know the campaigns get the message that Indian-Americans in this state are active and can make a major difference in the primary’s results." Indian-Americans have been in New Hampshire for over 30 years and have played an active and vibrant role throughout the state as physicians, entrepreneurs, engineers, educators, and students. From participating in PTO meetings to face-to-face dialogue with elected officials and working and volunteering for campaigns, New Hampshire Indian-Americans have emerged into a politically active community focused on having their voice heard.

Congressman Paul Hodes (D-NH) applauded the community’s participation saying, "The Indian-American community here in New Hampshire is very active and involved in all aspects of community life, especially the political process.

They have been enthusiastic participants in our first-in-the nation presidential primary and the candidates have certainly taken notice." "New Hampshire’s Indian-American community has been a visible and engaged participant in this year’s first-in-the-nation primary," said Fergus Cullen, Chairman of the NH Republican Party. "With the races being so tight on both sides, it makes sense for both parties to seek the support of the New Hampshire Indian-American community."