On Tuesday morning, it was announced by the Obama campaign that the Mayor of San Antonio, Julian Castro, had been slated for the keynote speech at the Democratic Convention. Castro is considered to be a rising star in the Democratic Party, elected to office twice in a deeply red state. Castro - much like President Obama - is young, smart, was raised by a single-mother, and attended Harvard Law School.
He will be the first ever Hispanic to deliver the keynote speech at the convention, a clear sign of the Obama campaigns push for the Latino vote this fall.
Castro is nervous, and knows that this speech – which propelled Obama to political stardom back in 2004 - could make or break his future career in politics.
Castro says, “When Obama talked about the audacity of hope, I thought back to my mother saying if you didn’t like the way things were, you could dare to change them, … I thought, my mother would like this guy, … I know I have some big shoes to fill.”
In 2008, candidate Obama was able to take 67% of the Hispanic vote and
estimates say he will be able to do it again. Many pundits have said that Romney will not win this fall if he can’t pick up ground in the Latino community. Certainly this latest news from the Democrats will make that harder for Romney to do.