The American Spectator

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The Nation's Pulse

(Page 2 of 2)

There are substantial African-American populations in St. Louis, Kansas City, and the Bootheel area, which probably contributed to Obama's narrow primary victory against Hillary Clinton.

Moreover, the Catholic vote is very large in the City of St. Louis and St. Louis County and in several counties along the Missouri River with populations with roots in southern Germany. Baptists are huge throughout the state, and there is even a significant contingent of Mormons in Jackson County (Kansas City and Independence), which is a place of great theological significance for them.

WHILE IT IS reasonable to assume that Missouri will continue its streak of choosing the winner, it may be somewhat out of sync with the rest of the nation in terms of the influence, or lack thereof, of Hispanic voters.

According to the state Department of Economic Development, this part of the population has grown by an impressive 92.2 percent between the 1990 census and 2000, much higher than the overall population, which only increased by 9.3 percent. But the absolute number of Hispanics is still small: 61,698 in 1990 to 118,592 versus a total population of 5.6 million.

Compared to Colorado or Fairfax County, Virginia, Hispanic voting power in Missouri is still pretty small. To this extent, Missouri may not reflect the huge demographic changes typical of the rest of the nation.

At the end of the day, political pundits need to demand, "Show Me the data!" Keep an eye on Missouri this election season.

topics:
John McCain, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Earmarks, NATO, Africa