Dear Editor,

Guyanese-Americans can be found in almost all of the states in the US but the largest chunk are found in the New York metro and Florida-Georgia. They have a chance to make history in helping to choose a President (first woman or first Black) and I hope they will come out to vote in the primaries to help choose a nominee. Florida votes on Jan 29 and the New York area states on Feb 4.

Not many Guyanese are in Iowa and New Hamsphire which already voted. Some Guyanese are college students in those states. Some Guyanese are also settled in Nevada which votes on Saturday (today) and some also live in South Carolina which votes on Tuesday.

Every vote counts in these contests and so I encourage Guyanese to cast ballots although in previous elections, they abstained.

With regards to Nevada, the latest opinion polls show Senator Hillary Clinton trailing Senator Barack Obama. But I think Clinton will do well and could upset Obama as she did two weeks ago in New Hampshire. Recall, polls had shown that Obama would trounce Clinton by double digits in NH. But Clinton eked out a narrow come from behind victory to remain in contention for the nomination. In NH, pollsters failed to take into account the late swing for Clinton and the high turnout of women voters. The same is possible in Nevada which is considered a democratic state.

It is difficult to defeat Obama because he has the endorsements of several labour unions that are canvassing for him and the backing of one Senator from the state. Obama is also backed by other key Democrats in the state’s leadership. And a court ruling on Thursday, allowing voters to vote near where they work (as opposed to where they register to vote), will help Obama because of labour endorsement. But Clinton has not given up on Nevada although it will be tough to eke out a victory. She is courting Hispanics who form a large chunk of voters. Obama has also targeted Hispanics. African Americans, who constitute a small percentage of voters in Nevada, are going for Obama. Asians are backing Clinton.

If Clinton wins Nevada on Saturday, she has a good chance of upsetting Obama in SC where African Americans constitute half of the voters and where she is also trailing Obama by big numbers. One should not count out Clinton as yet.

Yours faithfully,

Vishnu Bisram