History is made … and it’s a great day for women.

Nancy Pelosi has broken the marble ceiling, soon to become the first female Speaker of the House of Representatives -- third in line to the president of the United States. Democrats scored considerably more than the 15 seats needed to take control of the House of Representatives, delivering arguably the most powerful lawmaker position in America to the congresswoman from San Francisco.

Later on Election Night, the number of female Senators from both parties rose to a record high of 16 as the Democrats surprisingly inched toward winning a majority of the Senate too.

Political junkie or not, the elections lived up to the hype and delivered an intriguing evening filled with nail-biting and too-close-to-call races throughout the country.

A shift in balance
It appears voters were serious about change and clear in their message that the partisan politics that has divided much of the country has gone on far too long.

Exit poll numbers on the Latino vote have yet to be reported, but a positive trend appeared. In a poll released by the National Council of La Raza and the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials, half of Latino voters said they were “more enthusiastic” about voting this year than in previous elections. In California, by reelecting Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Garden Grove), voters repudiated the fear tactics of one candidate who used a highly controversial letter campaign that tried to drive immigrants away from the polls.

Congratulations to all the winners, and a special congratulations to Nancy Pelosi, soon to be the honorable 52nd Speaker of the House, the highest elected office ever held by a woman.

Why Latinas should vote

A message from LatinaVoz founder, Lorraine Quintanar
October 6, 2006

When no one heard your silence in 2000 and 2004,
TheLatinaVoz.com did.

The inspiration for our online magazine began in the
summer of 2004, when an article appeared in a woman’s
magazine reporting 22 million American women had not
voted in the 2000 presidential election.

Shortly after the WOW factor wore off, we wondered how
many of the women who did not vote were Latinas. After
many weeks of searching the Internet, researching
articles and reviewing studies on civic participation,
we were no closer to an answer. However, what we did
discover disturbed us deeply. Latina news coverage was
scarce, trivial and it seemed mainstream media had
decided immigration was our only issue.

As women, we know our issues are far-reaching, and as
Latinas we know our issues go beyond immigration. Over
the past year, TheLatinaVoz.com has written about and
uncovered many of the issues and challenges facing our
families and communities today.

We’ve learned the struggle many Latinas face in
finding affordable health insurance. We’ve learned
that more than one-third of Latinas (37%) are
uninsured. We learned there is a growing health
epidemic among Latino youths--Latino children are now
disproportionately obese when compared to non- Latino
youths.

We learned that, some 30 years after the feminist
revolution calling for the end of gender
discrimination, women are still paid considerably less
then men. And we learned Latinas fare much worse,
earning only 55 cents to a man's dollar.

Access to quality education is more elusive: Latino
high school dropout rates remain high, and our college
participation low.

Our constitutional right to our reproductive rights
continues to be challenged, and the lack of access to
safe birth-control options is placing many young
women--especially Latinas--at risk.

Sadly, we’ve also learned when it comes to going to
the polls, Latinos are among the most apathetic voters
in the U.S., voting at significantly lower levels than
their white and black counterparts.

Was 2000 a mirror for 2004? Unfortunately, yes. Civic
participation among women in the 2004 presidential
election wasn’t much better than in the 2000
presidential election. Although, like the 22 million
in 2000, the number remains unconfirmed, it is
believed that some 20 million American women again
elected not to vote two years ago.

Minimal time to research issues and candidates is the
number one reason women say they don’t vote, according
to a national survey conducted by Greenberg,
Quinlan, Rosner (GQR) Research. Most women we know are
multi-taskers; they operate their daily lives in warp
speed constantly responding to work and life
pressures. As women, we get it when we hear our
sisters our moms and our friends say, “I’m tired.”

Being a woman in America is not easy, and while our
own personal struggles and pressures are real, they
are not unique to the female experience. We know our
own grandmothers, mothers, daughters, sisters and
aunts faced the same family and work challenges, and
still they’d say hay que luchar for a better life for
ourselves and our children.

We know throughout American history, women fought and
struggled to ensure that future generations of
American women are recognized and treated as equal
citizens afforded with the same opportunities to
pursue liberty, justice and happiness.

Being a woman in America is as much about
responsibility as it is about the pursuit of equality.
We have a responsibility to seek and to promote
practical economic policy for all our citizens. We
have a responsibility to seek and promote better
access to health care and education. We have a
responsibility to seek and promote safe schools and
child-care facilities. We have a responsibility to
seek and promote tighter laws that protect women and
children against violence. We have a responsibility to
seek and promote laws that put an end to gender and
workplace discrimination. We have a responsibility to
elect leaders who will seek and promote tolerance and
equal opportunity to all citizens. We have a
responsibility to the women who came before us--the
women who fought for not only our right to vote, but
our right to be recognized as full citizens under the
law.

As Latinas, we have a responsibility to ourselves and
to our families to VOTE. Our political participation
can make a difference today. Make your VOZ heard:
VOTE. Hay que luchar for a better life for us and our
children.

See you at the polls!

Investigators with the state attorney general's office have linked a Republican campaign to letters sent to Hispanic families last week warning that some immigrants could be jailed or deported for voting next month, an agency spokesman said Wednesday.

Nathan Barankin, a spokesman for Attorney General Bill Lockyer, declined to identify the campaign, citing the ongoing investigation.

"We believe it's linked to a particular Republican campaign," Barankin said in a telephone interview from Sacramento. "We have identified where we believe the mailing list was obtained."

Legislative/Political News

And the hits just keep on coming for President Bush and the GOP. The Combination of Bob Woodward’s book “State of Denial” -- which describes a very dysfunctional White House – the ongoing violence in Iraq, and the Foley sex scandal seems to be taking its political toll on the current administration and the Republican Party. A recently released Newsweek poll shows the President's approval rating at 33%. Nearly 60% disapprove of how President Bush is handling his job. Some 66% of Americans say the Iraq war has not made the country safer. The Newsweek poll also reveals a majority of Americans, 58%, believe the Bush administration purposely misled the public about Iraq.

The GOP is not faring any better. The GOP is at risk of losing the House and, some say, even the Senate. The House of Representatives had been expected to be in play in November, but the Senate was considered a longshot. The Foley sex scandal and the alleged cover-up from House speaker Hastert has rocked Washington and perhaps even the November vote. Some 53% of those surveyed in the same Newsweek poll would like to see the Democrats take control of Congress. Conversely, 35% say they would like the Republicans to retain control.

The Bush Administration held a conference to determine how the federal government can help communities improve school safety. Recent shootings in three schools in Colorado, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania, and threats of violence in many other states prompted the meeting. President Bush asked Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and Education Secretary Margaret Spellings to convene a meeting of leading experts and stakeholders to discuss how federal, state, and local governments can work together with schools, communities, and families to help ensure our schools are safe places for students to learn.

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