And not in a good way at all :

A new study from the University of New Hampshire shows Hispanics now account for half of U.S. population growth, driving growth in major cities and rural communities.

The study from the Carsey Institute says "natural increase'" meaning more births than deaths, is now the major reason for the growth, replacing immigration.

Kenneth Johnson, the report author, said the trend will remake the social and cultural fabric of communities for decades.

The report said Hispanics are a major source of growth in rural America, accounting for 45.5 percent of population growth between 2000 and 2005.

For many rural communities, Hispanic gains represent the first population growth in decades.

Of course, the study uses the word "hispanic" which is meant to Europeanize and in turn "whitewash" black, indigenous and all other ancestries from everybody coming from Latin America. So in effect, these "hispanics" could be treated as replacement white people for the dwindling white Europeans.

Nevertheless, they're still a mostly Catholic and pagan bunch. Which is why it would probably freak out many "Christian Nationalists" like Sarah Palin.
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You all know why I hate the word "Hispanic". So when Marisa from Latina Lista sent this around the other day, I couldn't stop myself from bashing them for using that most detested word.

As a Latinoamericanista by training, Latin American and by extension, Latino, means to include non-Spanish speaking countries like Brazil and Haiti. Hispanic doesn't.

Also, when we speak Latino, we don't speak of people who are only of Castillian Spanish ascendancy. They could be descendants of Persian Jews, Lebanese Christians, Tagalog Filipinos or simple any of the hundreds of Native South American and Caribbean tribes that populate our countries.

If universities across the country can make a distinction between Hispanic and Latino studies, it would behoove the political elites to make those distinctions, no? It's why I've never understood the insistence of advocacy and organizations to use the anachronistic term "Hispanic".

Any organization that doesn't embrace the diversity of the Latino community, with all our languages, ethnicities, cultures and races, is bound to always be political weak. Especially in these times when mobile and internet technologies, along with transnational economies, are breaking down the barriers of racial, ethnic and linguistic identity while fortifying those of class.

Anyhow, thanks Marisa. Am pulling a lazyweb on this one and just cutting and pasting on the blog.
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Austin's NBC News affiliate has conducted a pre-debate poll of the electorate and this is what they've found :

The race for the Democratic nomination is too close to call. The large percentage of "undecided" voters give even more weight to the CNN debates Thursday evening. As Senators Clinton and Obama both tour Texas, they will be reaching out to the undecideds to close the gap.

If the election were held today, who would you vote for? Democrats:

• Clinton 46%
• Obama 45%
• Undecided 9%

Margin of error: +/- 4%

If the election were held today, who would you vote for? Republicans:

• Huckabee 30%
• McCain 52%
• Paul 9%
• Undecided 9%

Margin of error: +/- 4%

Voter interest is high for the March 4 primary and as Texas plays a role in deciding the nominee, the expected voter turnout is historic.

Do you plan to vote in the March 4 primary?
18-39
55% (Democrats)
45% (Republicans)

40-59
61% (D)
39% (R)

60+
49% (D)
51% (R)

They are going to conduct the poll again after the debate. What's really interesting is the reason why they chose the company conducting the poll, Constituents Dynamics:
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I just posted this at TechPresident :

If one blog post can point to a core demographics "way of thinking", then one could say that the outburst of discussion in the mommy blogosphere created by mommyblogger, The Queen of Spain, may indicate that Texas, Pennsylvania and Ohio will see a huge voting shift away from the former First Lady and current Senator of New York.

Why? The post I am going to quote after the jump may well be a quantifiable reflection of how white suburban mothers, Hillary Clinton's core constituency, are starting to move away from her to embrace Barack Obama.

Go read the whole thing.

I have said it once and I am going to say it again : The people a candidate attracts matters. It matters if a candidate is willing to look the other way at their supporters' willingness to pick up the slack and run the dirty politics for them. And such is the vibe that I have gotten from the Clintons' supporters way before Hillary announced her candidacy. They want the dynasty. They want the twofer. By all means necessary.

So it's no wonder there's this coming from the Clinton side of the political aisle :

"That's when I caught on," said Coghlan. He realized then that he was being push-polled. That malicious political virus that is designed not to elicit answers but to spread positive information about one candidate and negative information about all others under the guise of an honest poll had arrived in Southern California within days of the important election.

It could become an issue in the closing hours of the campaign.

Someone who obviously favors Hillary Clinton is paying an unidentified company to spread this material phone call by phone call among independent voters, who can, according to California party rules, opt to vote in the Democratic but not the Republican primary on Feb. 5, when nearly two dozen states will choose a large chunk of the delegates to t
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I'm researching income patterns among minority groups here in the United States and I came across the following article. It has bits of information such as the fact that the US Latino consumer market is as big as the entire Mexico economy. Now, given that Mexico is the 4th largest country in the Americas, that's nothing to sneeze at.

I mean, if all latinos in the US could easily buy back Mexico, why would anybody be concerned about us as a burden to our economy?

Minority groups' share of $10 trillion U.S. consumer market is growing steadily, according to annual buying power study from Terry College's Selig Center for Economic Growth

The Selig Center's annual report includes state-by-state projections of buying power for the nation's three most populous racial groups (African American, Asian and American Indian), as well as Hispanics, who are categorized by the U.S. Census as an ethnic minority and not a racial minority. Buying power, also referred to as disposable income, is the total personal income available for spending on goods and services after taxes. The state-by-state projections are broken down by market size, growth rate and market share.

The steep curve of Hispanic buying power is largely the result of immigration and population growth, Humphreys said. The 2000 U.S. Census reported that about one person out of eight living in the United States was of Hispanic origin. By 2012, that population figure is projected to approach one out of every six.

Hispanic buying power has risen from $212 billion in 1990 (the beginning boundary of the Selig Center study) to $862 billion in 2007, representing growth of 307 percent over that time. By comparison, the combined buying power of all non-Hispanics in the United States grew 125 percent during the same period.

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