APIA Power Plays: Independence Day 2006

Well, eventually there was bound to be a crackpot Republican Asian American who wants to end undocumented immigration and run for public office on a Minutemen stance to build a wall between the US and Mexico.

Enter Jan Ting, a 57-year old law professor at Temple University and former INS oficial under Daddy Bush. Last week Ting kicked off his official run for the seat of sitting US Senator Thomas Carper (D-Delaware.) Ting is the son of Chinese immigrants.

Somehow I feel like this campaign is doomed to failure. I can't really see the anti-immigrant forces working for and supporting a senatorial run by the son of immigrants, and Ting is unlikely to get the vote of white liberals or immigrants. (Not that Delaware has a whole lot of APAs or Latinos - according to the 2000 Census, the population is 2.1% Asian American and 4.8% Latino.) I'm really not sure what base Ting believes he will rely upon, so this seems to be an ideological but ultimately hopeless run much like Tom Tancredo's run for the presidency. Lucky Ting gets to be the sacrificial lamb that the GOP is putting up against Carper, who is currently polling at 62-27 approve-disapprove according to Survey USA. Carper, the former Congressman and Governor for Delaware, won his last race by 12 percentage points. Wikipedia says that his seat is viewed as one of the safest in the Senate.

And with that, a Happy Independence Day!