SILICON VALLEY IN SEARCH OF A BUSINESS-FRIENDLY CANDIDATE FOR PRESIDENT

Michael Taylor

Silicon Valley, CA. Today, the more than 300,000 Indian-Americans who live and work in Silicon Valley are focused on deciding who the most business-friendly candidate for president is. The most business-friendly candidate here is a "free trader" who believes that market forces are best and that outsourcing is not a "war against the [American] middle class" as CNN commentator Lou Dobbs would have you believe.

There has been little battling amongst the candidates over the issue of outsourcing in part due to much larger domestic issues. The leading presidential candidates going into Super Tuesday say they favor allowing the global economy dictate the flow of jobs and business. Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama seek to reopen the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) to strengthen enforcement of labor and environmental standards. Governor Mitt Romney, arguably the most pro-business candidate of all the Republican contenders, has been very vocal on wanting to renegotiate liberalized trade with China to stop currency manipulation that gives Chinese products unfair advantage.

"Governor Romney is solidly pro-business and pro-trade - thus I would hope that the undecided Indian-American voters in Silicon Valley will break his way today in this very competitive state," says Sue Ghosh Stricklett, a Romney Delegate. For the record, all candidates currently still contesting for the nomination have criticized China on this and other grounds.

With such a close race this year, there is every indication that the aforementioned Silicon Valley voters will have greater influence than ever in California. "Indian-Americans like all Asian-Americans are poised to make an historic impact on Super Tuesday, especially in California where a fifth of the nominating convention delegates are being contested, and where Asian-American voters continue to trend Democratic," says Congressman Mike Honda (D-CA-15th), Vice-Chair of the Democratic National Committee, Chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, and Member of the HouseIndia Caucus and the House Appropriations Committee. "USINPAC is very effective in informing, encouraging, and mobilizing Indian-Americans here in California to make their voices heard."

The closeness of this race, especially on the Democratic side, and the fact that California has one of the highest concentrations of Indian-Americans only serve to magnify the community's influence in this so important an election year. "The Indian-American community has shown their dedication to issues that are important to them as individuals and as a community and I encourage all Americans to get involved in our electoral process," says Congressman Ken Calvert (R-CA-44th), Member of the House India Caucus and the House Appropriations Committee.