In the NGUYEN column...

Several interesting questions arise from the controversy over Tan Nguyen's clumsy (at best) letter to foreign-born Latino voters questioning their right to vote. One is the impact on his own race - does the letter's backlash raise Latino turnout or is there a backlash-to-the-backlash resulting in exposure he never dreamed of (John&Ken, etc.) and an increased volunteer and voter base from anti-illegal immigration activists.

Another good question is the impact all this has on the Daucher-Correa race in central county. Will more Latinos vote, and vote for Democrats? Do more Vietnamese turn out and vote Republican, which they tend to do?

My curiosity tonight is what impacts the TAN Nguyen controversy has on OTHER Vietnamese candidates this year, especially the ones named "Nguyen." There are no less than SEVEN other candidates named Nguyen on the ballot in the Garden Grove area. Will Latinos vote against ALL of them (they are all Republican)? Will some Anglos vote against all of them out of disgust for Tan Nguyen's tactics and confusion over which Nguyen is which?

FYI, here are the candidates and the office they are running for: Tan Nguyen, 47th Congressional District; Lan Quoc Nguyen and John Chuong Nguyen, Garden Grove Unified School District board; Dina Nguyen and Lactan Nuygen, Garden Grove City Council; Trung Nguyen, Orange County Water District; Lu Tuan Nguyen, Coast Community College District board; Andrew Nguyen, Westminster School District board.

(No that's not a typo for Lactan - he (mis)spelled his name that way on his candidate paperwork. And Westminster School District overlaps part of Garden Grove and the 47th Congressional District.)

Other Vietnamese candidates in the area include Andy Quach, Ha Mach and Tri Ta for Westminster City Council, Diana Duong Mendez and Thanh Phan for Westminster School Board, and Truong Diep for Midway City Sanitary District. And, of course, Van Tran for re-election to Assembly.

There is a recent study observing a marked (68%) increase in Asian voter participation in Orange County from 2000 to 2004. A normal progression would suggest a significant Asian vote this year as well, with Asian candidates the likely beneficiaries. And if there is a backlash against Tan Nguyen's tactics within the Vietnamese community, they are certainly in better position to distinguish Tan Nguyen from the other candidates.

The bottom line - I don't know what the impact will be. My hunch is that everything will balance out. Tan Nguyen was not going to win anyway. But if any of the theorized currents above does present more forcefully than the others, particularly close elections could be influenced. Daucher-Correa and GG City Council are the two election contest that may be most susceptible, if only because they are, at this point, the most competitive.

Comments

[Garden Grove Republican]

Dina Nguyen is the only candidate endorsed by the Republican Party in this election. The money is on Bruce Broadwater for getting 1st place. Dina and Harry Krebs will duke it out for the 2nd place.

[Joe Brown]

Mark,

"There are no less than SEVEN other candidates named Nguyen on the ballot in the Garden Grove area."

How many of these candidates/officeholders have came out against Tan's actions, instead of the racist letter? It seems intentional that these Vietnamese candidates/officeholders are withholding judgement on Tan's actions because they are afraid of a possible Vietnamese backlash.

"And if there is a backlash against Tan Nguyen's tactics within the Vietnamese community, they are certainly in better position to distinguish Tan Nguyen from the other candidates."

I don't think there will be a significant Vietnamese backlash against Tan Nguyen. I believe that many Vietnamese are embarassed of Tan but will still check his name in the polling booth, as documented by the LA times in a recent interview with a Vietnamese voter.

As far as Anglos voting for Tan I believe you may be surprised that with the racist letter, this election will be closer than Lorretta's previous elections. If any issue can make Anglo democrats come out to support Tan, it's Illegal Immigration.

Lastly, Latinos will not consider supporting any candidate/officeholder who has not denounced Tan Nguyen actions. As far as Latinos know, every Vietnamese candidate/officeholder believes what Tan Nguyen believes.

[Kat]

I was there at Tan's rally and was surprised to find that many Latinos are supporting him. Some even said that they did not see anything wrong with the letter and that they actually like the issues he stands for. I believe it's the stupid media and stupid Loretta Sanchez's camp spinning this whole situation out of control. Like Tan said, Loretta Sanchez speaks Spanish and she did not object to the mistranslation of the word "emigrado." As a matter of fact, she fueled investigations and exposed Tan. When people found out about the mistranslation, Loretta Sanchez didn't even show up to her own rally!! The lady must be embarassed because she knew exactly what her intentions were. GO TAN GO! Vote for Tan because you don't want to get stuck with a fat cat who accepts millions of dollars from people she shouldn't even deal with.

[cotoblogzz]

RE: “Orange County’s Register Peggy Lowe's article this past Sunday's on the Bates v. DeYoung race quoted Cassie thus”

And for those with terrible tunnel vision who actually think that the Orange Country Register reports the truth, I have a bridge for sale. What, even its founder has gone on record to say that it is “impossible to tell what is true and what is right”!

Consistent with Wilbur F. Storey, editor of the Chicago Times in the 1840’s when he instructed the Peggy Lowe’s of his time: Write “..all fully all news you can get, and when there is no news, send rumors…”!

Actually, given the financial state of the Pâté Bates’ campaign, we have more ad space for sale, since her campaign is no longer able to pay for Jubal’s political “adporting”!

[cotoblogzz]

" I believe it's the stupid media and stupid Loretta Sanchez's camp spinning this whole situation out of control"

It is simply a conspiracy of the Morons – Nguyen Waffles are simply a figment of those with terrible tunnel vision. Wait, it may be also a conspiracy by the Stupid Illegals!

[cotoblogzz]

..." I believe it's the stupid media and stupid Loretta Sanchez's camp spinning this whole situation out of control"

…come to think of it, the problem, according to John Kerry, are all the stupid soldiers deployed in Iraq!

[john chang]

to the people who read and follow mr. tan nguyen's stories:

the people have the saying: "take the loss and move on". if mr. tan nguyen was a smart politician/leader, he did not have to send those kind of letters to anyone; his leadership skill would do just fine if he had any leadership skill at all. a competent politician/leader would have his leadership skill transparency among his community and he'd win the race as easy as eating his piece of cheesecake. well, apparently, he does not have any leadership skill, but just talk coming out of his ass. and so we, vietnamese-american don't need a not-so-smart leader to represent us. what we need is one who can represent us vietnamese-american as well as all american in this country with the old fashion values; such as integrity and honesty.

Bottom line, mr. tan nguyen admitted he was aware of the letter sent to 14,000 homes; therefore, he's just one of those soon-to-be corrupted if we mistakenly elected him to represent us. we'd need to stop it before it's too late.

On October 8, 2006 there was a fundraiser held at Paracel Seafood Restaurant in Westminster for Tan Nguyen/Republican for Congress. It looks like the invitation is in English and Vietnamese.

Here is the Honorary Host Committee:
Hon. Van Tran, Assemblyman
Hon. Janet Nguyen, G.G. City Councilwoman
Hon. Nguyen Q. Lan, G.G. School Board
Mr. Tran Hai & Mrs. Thu Thao, Viet Satellite
Hon. Roxanne Chow, Westminster Planning Commissioner
Hon. Nguyen Q. Trung, G.G. School Board
Mr. Tony Huynh, AAA Financial Sales & Leasing
Mr. Donald Tran, iLoan Magic Inc.
Mr. Ho van Sinh, Vien Lien, Inc.
Ms. Kim Le & Mr. Dung Phan, Select Graphic and Printing
John Michael Vu, Realty Provider
Mr. Tran D., A Chau Supermarket