Oropeza and Richardson are In

Well, it's big news, but now it's official that both Jenny Oropeza and Laura Richardson are in the race to replace Juanita Millender-McDonald in the 37th Congressional District.

Where do they stand on Iraq, on consumer and labor vs. business issues, social issues, etc? It'll be interesting to find out, but there's not much time. The election is only 45 days away!

I sure hope the inevitable attention paid to the changing demographics of the district [Will it remain a "black" seat? Will the near majority Latino population in the district put a Latino (or, in this case, Latina) in D.C?] doesn't take away from coverage of the candidates so we can figure out how they would vote. Right now, the racial/ethnic discussion hasn't been going on very long, but I'll be bothered if this stuff keeps getting rehashed. Example:

Oropeza is expected to announce her intentions today in Compton. Richardson also pushed back against the notion that blacks are losing ground in the 37th Congressional District. Black residents make up 22.7 percent of the district's population, down from 33.6 percent a decade ago, while Latinos make up 47.6 percent.

Richardson released a statistical analysis Tuesday claiming that black voters make up 37 percent of the likely electorate, while Latinos are just 15 percent. She said the numbers show that black voters are not losing sway.

"I think when you look at the stats, that's not the case," she said. "There's a reason why Congresswoman McDonald has continued in that seat."

A couple other things -

Oropeza's district overlaps only in Carson, with much if not most of the population of the 37th living elsewhere (Long Beach, Compton). Can Oropeza leverage her position as State Senator in Carson to do well there?

Lastly, there's a Wiki entry for this special election. It's definitely a good start (I've chipped in myself) and I think it could be a real resource for laying out candidates' positions and other things about this race. Join in.