SAN DIEGO—With most political eyes on Pennsylvania where the Democratic presidential candidates were engaged in a political slugfest, it was the past and the future of Native voting that drew the attention of many participants at the National Indian Gaming Association annual meeting and trade show.
Much of the four-day NIGA event has been devoted to the commerce and culture of Indian gaming, but some political talk shared the stage on Tuesday's crucial primary day.
As Hillary Clinton was winning the Pennsylvania Democratic primary over Barack Obama, the tone in San Diego's convention hall where the NIGA convention is being held involved a decidedly nonpartisan, get-out-the-vote theme.
Among those exhorting the crowd at the convention center was J R Mathews, vice chairman of the Quapaw tribe in Oklahoma and the newly elected treasurer of NIGA, who called this a critical election year.
"I'm asking you for not just yourself to go out to vote but make sure two other people make it to the polls," Mathews told his audience on the convention floor. "Pick them up. Take them. Get them out to vote — for either party, for any candidate. Express yourself. The Indian vote can change the country."
The making-a-difference message echoed throughout the convention center with thoughts not only on the tight presidential race but in other electoral campaigns where the Native vote — although small in number — could have an impact. Those states include New Mexico, Arizona, South Dakota, Montana, Minnesota and Alaska where Native support has played key roles in local or state elections. That could hold true on the national level, tribal leaders said.
Mark Macarro, tribal chairman of the Pechanga Band of Luiseño Indians in California, said Native influence is only beginning to be felt in elections for local and state offices and looms as a possible factor at the national level.
"Tribal citizens, Native people, have the ability to swing elections if their votes are concentrated," he said.
Ernie Stevens Jr., NIGA chairman, agreed and said the growing political interest in Indian Country has only been heightened by the close battle between Obama and Clinton on the Democratic side and the emergence of Sen. John McCain, the former chair of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, as the presumptive Republican nominee.
"I think I see the interest in change because we know there's going to be change and that gives us hope," said Stevens, an Oneida. "I'm not one to be down on President Bush. I respect all leadership but America knows there's going to be change and that's a chance for us Indian people to sway votes and that's what is exciting about that."
Neither Stevens nor Macarro has endorsed a presidential candidate, although Macarro said he is a Democrat and Stevens said that when he returns to his Oneida, Wis., home he will be listening to his wife. "I think she likes that Obama guy," he said with a laugh.
Lynn Valbuena, meanwhile, is a Clinton supporter who was monitoring the Pennsylvania results on Tuesday that would eventually have the New York senator winning 55 percent to 45 percent to keep her presidential bid alive despite trailing in Democratic delegates.
Valbuena, the vice chairwoman of the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians in California, said the close Democratic contest has bolstered interest among Native Americans.
"It's not just in my community," she said. "I see an overall interest in this campaign and primarily because it's such a tight race."
To capitalize on that interest and to encourage voter registration across party lines, the National Congress of the American Indian has pushed its "Native Vote" campaign. It includes a "Get-Out-the-Native-Vote" effort that involves a widespread promotional campaign; an "election protection" program to ensure voting rights for Natives; and a "candidate education" portion to show politicians the importance and influence of Native voters.
Although Democrats outnumber Republicans in Indian Country, Jacqueline Johnson, NCAI's executive director, said her organization's efforts are aimed at all political parties and that an individual party should not take the Native vote for granted.
"The more we can get candidates to fight over us the better off we are," Johnson, a Tlingit of Alaska, told a NIGA workshop on protecting Natives' voting rights. "We're going to be winners in that environment."
Despite the voter registration efforts, there are some in Indian County who plan to sit out the election or who are skeptical of any candidate working with a government that has registered a litany of historical wrongs against Natives including attempts — some of them successful — to prevent them from voting.
Ben Nighthorse Campbell, a Northern Cheyenne and former Colorado senator who is backing McCain, said he understands that reticence. But he said Native voters can exhibit some "serious clout if we stick together" and make it to the polls.
"It's the only game in town," he added. "You can't compete or win if you abandon the field. It's competition. You have to get in there and fight."