Ny Safidinao

They’re seen as the sleeping giant of Florida voters. The challenge, though, is getting that giant to awaken, get out the door and to the voting booth, experts say. Puerto Ricans are the fastest growing part of Florida’s Latino voters, and they boast their largest concentration in the state in a critical swing-vote region – the I-4 corridor in Central Florida. But the fervor for voting that envelopes Puerto Ricans who are living on the island, which claims a roughly 80 percent turnout, seems to nearly evaporate once they settle on the mainland, say Puerto Rican leaders and political experts. “It’s a phenomenon we’re seeing with Puerto Ricans,” said Alfonso Aguilar, a former official with the George W. Bush administration and the executive director of the American Principles Project’s Latino Partnership.  “In Puerto Rico, politics is a sport. People get excited. They have issues like Puerto Rico’s political status – whether it should get statehood or be independent. When Puerto Rica

When you consider how often we see Microsoft Surfaces on our televisions versus how many are actually sold, you really have to question whether Microsoft’s big spending on such product placement is worthwhile.  This is especially true when such product placement backfires in hilarious ways, such as when NFL announcers refer to the Surface tablets coaches are using on the sidelines as “ iPads .” However, it turns out it can get even worse than that because GeekWire has spotted a new Surface product placement failure that might be Microsoft’s most embarrassing one yet. During the coverage of last night’s midterm elections, CNN pundits all had Surface tablets lined up on the table that were supposedly being used to keep track of all the important races. However, GeekWire  noticed that many of these pundits were secretly swiping away at iPads even as the shiny Surface tablets were right in front of them to use, attachable keyboards and all. This shows the danger with product placemen

Enrique Vasquez has lost count of how many politicians have visited his restaurant, La Lechonera del Barrio. Even President Barack Obama dropped in to eat pork and beans at this small place in a scruffy Orlando neighbourhood, some distance away from the theme parks that gave the Florida resort city its worldwide fame. Mr Vasquez is Dominican, but he reckons that 95% of the clientele in the restaurant he manages are Puerto Rican. Many are recent arrivals who fled spiralling crime and economic crisis in the US island territory. Nearly 300,000 Puerto Ricans now live around the Orlando metropolitan area, where they represent close to 12% of the population. As Florida prepares to vote next week in the mid-term elections, state candidates who a few years ago would campaign for Cuban votes in Miami's Little Havana now line up for photo-opportunities with Orlando's Puerto Ricans. These voters might help decide the outcome in this year's tight race for governor

In less than two weeks, Americans nation-wide will go to the polls to elect a new Congress, as well as the governors of several key states. For the first time in our lifetime, the American citizens of the United States Territory of Puerto Rico will have the opportunity to directly influence the results of this important election. Unfortunately, that power rests with the Puerto Ricans that live in the States, not on our Island. More on this latter In the always important state of Florida, the growing number of Puerto Ricans living there could decide the winner between current governor Rick Scott (R) and one time Republican, Charlie Crist (D). Polls shows the race too close to call, and this is where the Puerto Rican community could make its voice hear. The famous I-4 corridor, as it's called, which runs through a swing-vote region, is undergoing significant demographic change. Since early 2013 Puerto Ricans have been migrating by the thousands to the area, a forced migration due

Marcus Santos/New York Daily News Rob Astorino Republican gubernatorial candidate Rob Astorino says Gov. Cuomo's potential trip this week to Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republican is nothing more than pandering to a Hispanic community he has ignored for four years. "We heard that Mr. Cuomo was going to schedule a panic-and-pander tour to Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, and we just shook our heads," said Astorino. "This governor is completely out of touch with what New York Hispanic communities are saying about him: 'Cuomo nos ha ignorado.' Andrew Cuomo might be better off visiting the Hispanic communities in New York he has ignored for the past four years." Astorino, who speaks fluent Spanish, noted that Cuomo recently ignored debate offers made by Univision and New York 1 Noticias. "If Mr. Cuomo really wants to engage in issues important to New York's Hispanic communities rather than just pander at election time, he sho