SITV’s Wendy Carrillo interviews Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa

On the 88th anniversary of women’s suffrage, P+P caught up with former National Co-Chair of Clinton campaign L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa to ask him what Clinton’s campaign and the 18 million cracks it left in the ceiling meant for him and his three daughters.

“I think both candidates represent a lot to my girls. They represent the idea that if you work hard and play by the rules, you can make it. Whether a young girl, or a young person of color, or whatever you race, your nationality, your sex, your orientation, your religion, I mean, this is a country where we’re always breaking barriers and breaking with the past.”

Amen.

In keeping with our running conversation about what Obama needs to do to woo Latino voters, I asked the mayor his thoughts on how to translate the rapidly growing voter bloc’s steadfast support of Clinton’s primary campaign into a win for Democrats in the November. His response reminded us of Clef’s advice for the nominee earlier this week.

“Wherever I went on behalf of Hillary Clinton, her support among Latinos had everything to do with that they knew her. It was a vote for Hillary Clinton, not a vote against Barack Obama, and I can tell you that almost immediately after the primary, in three different national polls, Barack Obama enjoys a 30-point margin of victory over John McCain. Latinos are going to support [Obama] in large numbers and if they support him at 70 percent as I fully expect they will, he’s going to be the next president of the United States.”