August 26, 2008
Posted: 08:30 PM ET
From CNN Political Producer Ed Hornick
Steven Ybarra attends the convention in Denver.
DENVER (CNN) — Steven Ybarra, who made headlines in May when he asked for a million dollar plus payout for his vote during the contentious Democratic primaries, now says that Barack Obama's campaign will commit nearly $20 million towards Hispanic outreach. Ybarra, attending the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado, this week, said he hopes the Obama camp will allocate $10 million towards media buys and $10 million in grass roots Hispanic outreach including voter registration, community events. Ybarra is a superdelegate and member of the California Democratic Party State Central Committee, which has nearly 3,000 members. Ybarra said Tuesday that he never demanded a payout. "I never actually said I would sell my vote. What I was saying was there's no reason for me to vote for any candidate that¹s not ready to commit to my community," he said.
His goal in asking Obama for the funds, he said, was targeted at the Hispanic community and their causes including a "real commitment for the DNC and the various candidates to take a real commitment to the Latino vote." "We [Hispanics] are severely underrepresented in terms of voter registration S and the numbers have been going down steadily since 1968," he said. Ybarra contends that for Obama to win the election, the Illinois senator will have to bring states like Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico and Florida — states with large Hispanic populations into the As for any talk of party disunity, Ybarra's opinion is frank and to the point: "I'm a yellow dog Democrat. That means I'll vote for a three-legged, mangy, one-eyed, flea-bitten dog before I vote for a Republican. And that's what people here need to understand." According to his Web site, Ybarra is the former chair of the Chicano Latino Caucus of the Democratic Party and is the Pacific Regional Vice Chair for the DNC Hispanic Caucus. In addition, he serves as a member of the Executive Board of the California Democratic Party. Filed under: Barack Obama Hispanic |
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