The NY State Democratic Committee sent out the big guns to woo the vote from New York City’s Chinese Americans. The committee held a fundraising party and rally for the Kerry-Edwards ticket in Chinatown on October 13th. Governor Gary Locke of Washington State, the first Chinese-American governor in the country, was the keynote speaker. Peggy Kerry, sister of John Kerry, and her adopted Chinese daughter, who has been much publicized in the Chinese press here, also attended the function.

Locke, a Democrat, strongly criticized President Bush’s policies and urged all eligible Chinese American to come out and vote. But he cautioned them to “vote for the right candidate,” that is, Kerry.

Locke has been campaigning with Congressman Mike Honda (D-CA) around the country to help raise the profile of the Kerry-Edwards ticket among Asian voters.

Locke said that Asians comprise four percent of the voters nationally. In a tight race like this one, they can well be the pivotal minority. He urged Asian-American voters to take the opportunity and consolidate their votes to create strong political power.

Honda said that there are 800,000 Asians in New York State. Although 265,000 of these are registered voters, only about 58,000 vote. If all these people can be persuaded to come out and vote, Honda said, it would be have a huge impact on the election.

Besides asking people to vote, Locke also encouraged Chinese Americans to get involved in the political process in whatever way possible, to continue their involvement in government and to aim for higher positions. Once they get there, Locke said, they could do much more for their community.

More than 200 Chinatown community leaders came to the party. Among them were Councilmen John Liu and Allen Gerson, York Chan, president of the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association, Margaret Chan, deputy executive director of Asian-Americans for Equality, Virginia Kee, president of the Chinese Planning Council, and May Chan, commander of the Chinatown UNITE!.