An Inside Look at Guam

It's good to give Guam its due. Since only a small portion of the American electorate will actually come across this article by accident or on purpose, I thought I would re-print it here.

Here also are links to a letter written on Thursday by a Hillary supporter trying to blast Obama for votes of interest to Guam, and a response from Obama himself in the form of an open letter on Friday, highlighting his role with those critical votes and also how his Hawai'ian background and his grandfather's military experience in WWII influence his respect for Pacific-Islander people and issues.

And here is the editorial that ran today.

And now to the original article promised:


Moment of truth for Democrats; Campaign now down to grassroots

By Therese Hart
Variety News Staff

IT’S just a day away.

Tomorrow Guam Democrats will go to the polls to decide their choice for U.S. presidential candidate in the Democratic National Convention, as well as the leadership for the Democratic Party of Guam.

The closely run race between senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama places Guam in the nation's spotlight as the two go head to head in garnering delegate votes.

Guam holds nine delegate votes, five of which are super delegate votes. Congresswoman Madeleine Z. Bordallo, national committeeman and national committeewoman, as well as the chair and vice chair of the Democratic Party of Guam make up the five super delegate votes.
The remaining four delegate votes will go to those who have pledged their support for either Clinton or Obama. Four men and four women will win the pledged delegate seats. Each winning delegate gets a half vote.

Joseph "Joey" Duenas is running for treasurer and has publicly endorsed Obama. Therese C. Arriola is running for secretary and is supporting Clinton.

Democratic senators who are supporting Clinton are senators Tina Muna Barnes and David L. G. Shimizu.

Senators Adolpho Palacios, Judith Guthertz, Rory Respicio and Benjamin J. F. Cruz have endorsed Obama while senators Judi Won Pat and Ben Pangelinan have not committed to either of the two presidential candidates.

Although Won Pat remains uncommitted, she said that she would like the two to run together.
"It would be an awesome team. Guaranteed that the world will not be the same," Won Pat said.

Team Hillary and the Obama camps have been stomping the villages, doing door to door canvassing, making telephone calls throughout the night into the early morning hours, conducting phone banks and generally reaching out to all registered Guam Democrats and feverishly recruiting new ones.

Joshua Tenorio, Obama campaign chair said that the Obama volunteer group has been hitting the pavement, aggressively canvassing door to door as well as phone banking.

"People from National Call Center volunteers are using their technology on our website to reach out and call people to vote on Saturday. We're getting calls from Pennsylvania, Colorado, California, Hawaii, New York and Indiana. It's amazing," Tenorio said.

Former Senator Pilar Lujan and former Inarajan Mayor Jaime Paulino have also been working hard, canvassing and calling friends and relatives for their support in the May 3 election.
Lujan remains uncommitted because she believes that her vote should reflect the will of the majority of Democrats. However, her running mate, Paulino, has publicly endorsed Obama, according to Tenorio.

"Both Hillary and Obama represent the party ideals. As a candidate for the Democratic party chair, I will like my vote to represent the Democratic Party of Guam," Lujan said.
Lujan said that she, along with her family have been Democratic members for many years and that politics is still alive with Guam's vote having a big stake for the Democratic presidential candidates.

The team of Joseph Artero Cameron and Arlene Bordallo are the only two candidates who are running for chair and vice chair who have publicly endorsed Clinton. The two have also been aggressively campaigning for themselves and Clinton.

The two have also been endorsed by Hillary Clinton herself.

"We are making phone calls into the early morning hours. We are waving. We are walking door to door. It's a lot of hard work. Hopefully, it'll pay off," Cameron said.

"Arlene and I decided that there was no reason to remain non-committal as to which candidate we were going to endorse since we know that Hillary is the right person to put in the White House as our commander-and-chief. She knows the problems our people face and she has never backed down from a confrontation, especially when she's fighting for what she believes in," Cameron said.

"When Hillary becomes our next president, we will have a strong voice in Washington. We will no longer be placed on the back burner or as an afterthought. The military buildup alone is an issue that remains vague for our people. We're fooling ourselves if we think we can protect our local interests if we have anyone else other than Hillary in the White House. She knows Guam. She loves Guam and she's going to make Guam a priority," Cameron said.

The team of Tony Charfauros and Mary Ann Cabrera have been making phone calls and touching bases with the grassroots. Charfauros said that he and his running mate remain uncommitted in their support for the presidential candidate.

Charfauros said that he would like to see what each candidate has to offer Guam and whether they can deliver their campaign promises.

"I want to know what they have to say about Guam's political self-determination. It's been too long. We need to fulfill our destiny now. We cannot afford to wait, especially with the military buildup. We need to speak out as an indigenous people and determine our political destiny," Charfauros said.

The Democratic Party will not be appointing an interim national committeeman. Senators Ben Pangelinan, Benjamin J. F. Cruz and David Shimizu were interested in filling the interim seats. With just one day away to the election, the seat will be filled.

* Write-In *

Tenorio said that there are no efforts in organizing a write-in for the positions of national committeeman and woman.

"We are not pursuing or organizing a write-in effort. Taling is a bridge between all sides of the party. I support her," Tenorio said.

Shimizu and Taitano are running for national committee man and national committee woman respectively. They run unopposed.

Voting sites have been chosen and published in local papers. Polling sites will open at 10 a.m. and close at 8 p.m.

Herbie Perez, nominating committee chair, said that her committee is ready for the anticipated voting crowd.

"There will be one precinct official and one alternate for each polling site. The precinct board chairman can select three alternates. In addition, there will be two judges, one from the Obama camp and one from the Clinton camp. There will also be two inspectors, one for each camp," Perez said.