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It is never too early to think ahead about the Presidential Election of 2016, and as pundits start debating and arguing about potential candidacies for President, it turns out that several states could witness a battle for the nomination among their own office holders, as witness the following: New York–Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Governor Andrew Cuomo, and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand–all Democrats Florida—Former Governor Jeb Bush, Governor Rick Scott, and Senator Marco Rubio–all Republicans. Virginia—Governor Bob McDonnell, Republican, and Senator Mark Warner, Democrat. Massachusetts—Governor Deval Patrick and Senator Elizabeth Warren–both Democrats. New Jersey—Governor Chris Christie, Republican, and Newark Mayor Cory...

By the midterm elections in 2014, Julián Castro's memoir will be on bookshelves nationwide. New York-based Little, Brown and Co. will announce today that it has acquired the rights to publish Castro's yet-to-be-written book in English and Spanish as well as an audio version. The memoir will be published in 2014, the publishing house says. Since delivering the keynote address on the opening night of the Democratic National Convention, Castro has become a national figure, and widely discussed as a future president. “We think Julián has a very universal story, filled with drama, struggle and achievement and it will appeal...

The Castros, Julián, Rosie and Joaquín, pose for a portrait on Sunday, April 23, 2006. Photo: Helen L. Montoya, San Antonio Express-News / SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS The segregated barrios of the city's West Side a half-century ago were an unlikely inspiration for Maria del Rosario Castro, the daughter of an orphaned Mexican immigrant who as a girl picked ticks from white families' cocker spaniels. She grew into a firebrand, the matriarch of a new political generation, from the broken streets of her youth that flooded when it rained. The neighborhood starkly contrasted the picturesque Alamo Heights homes that her mother...

Julian Castro, Mayor of San Antonio, had the honored position of giving the keynote speech at the Democratic Convention. The 37-year-old had a lot of pressure as he was being compared to Barack Obama giving his speech in 2004. Fortunately his grandmother was not there because she would have taken him over her knee and given him a good thrashing. Castro spoke of his grandmother often during the speech, speaking of her coming to America from Mexico as an orphan. She persevered despite never even finishing grade school. She worked as a maid, a cook, and a babysitter, Castro told...

Julian Castro's daughter flips her hair and steals the show at the Democratic convention, as CNN's Jeanne Moos reports.

How lovely. CHARLOTTE, N.C. – The young Texas mayor whose keynote speech wowed the Democratic National Convention crowd Wednesday night draws political inspiration from his mother – who is a member of a radical civil rights movement and who reportedly thinks the truth behind the Battle of the Alamo is that Texans swiped Mexico’s land.Maria del Rosario Castro, the mother of San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro, said in 2010 that she grew up being told the battle was “glorious,” only to learn the so-called heroes were really “a bunch of drunks and crooks and slaveholding imperialists who conquered land that...

If you have any doubt about what Democrats think of their keynote speaker tonight, San Antonio mayor Julian Castro, take a gander at this cover image from the San Antonio Current, one of the alternative weeklies out there: Beside the C in the style of the Obama logo, in case you can’t read the small print at the bottom, it says, “CASTRO FOR (insert here)”.When convention organizers announced Castro would be their keynote speaker, I took a look at his record . . . and found little to cheer about in his three years as mayor: When Democrats announced that...

CHARLOTTE, NC - Day one of the Democratic National Convention was a tale of two events.  Throughout the early evening session -- prior to the major primetime hour -- the proceedings featured angry attacks on Mitt Romney and Republicans, an unshakeable fixation on trivial, minor issues (other than jobs and the economy), and a disquieting, heavy emphasis on abortion and divisive social issues.  Especially unpleasant were the patriotism-questioning shout-fest from former Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland ("If Mitt Romney were Santa, he'd fire the Reindeer and outsource the elves!") and the pro-abortion screed from the president of NARAL, a hardcore pro-abortion...

Mayor Julian Castro of San Antonio, who will be giving the keynote address tonight, is, according to some, the next Obama. But while Obama’s radicalism may have escaped the notice of the DNC in 2004, Castro’s views are bit more transparent. Indeed, he, along with his twin, Joaquin, currently running for Congress, learned their politics on their mother’s knee and in the streets of San Antonio. Their mother, Rosie helped found a radical, anti-white, socialist Chicano party called La Raza Unida (literally “The Race United”) that sought to create a separate country—Aztlan—in the Southwest. Read more: http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/09/04/Julian-Castro-A-Radical-Revealed

When Julian Castro, the San Antonio mayor, was announced Tuesday as the keynote speaker at the Democratic National Convention, the most common reaction among Democrats was “Who?” The first Latino ever tapped for the high-profile primetime address, 37-year-old Castro is the youngest mayor of a top-50 American city. Serving a second term after a 2011 reelection with 82.9 percent of the vote, the Stanford and Harvard Law graduate’s biography lists a number of accolades that make it clear he’s an up-and-comer. He made Time magazine’s list of “40 under 40,” and his life story is the embodiment of what we...

[SNIP] ....Based on my limited interactions and after reading more about [San Antonio Mayor Julian] Castro, it is clear that he is superficially very different from the older Latino leaders but very similar in other ways. The most prominent Hispanic mayor in America is Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. Before Castro was born, Villaraigosa was at UCLA leading the openly racist, secessionist, and anti-American group MEChA. After engaging in protests to try to get the ChicanoStudies Department to give money to an openly communist group, he dropped out of UCLA and attended the unaccredited People's School of Law. He took...

WASHINGTON (AFP) – President Barack Obama will hold talks Tuesday with former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg on US immigration reform, the White House said. The meeting comes as legislative efforts to enact an overhaul stalled in the polarized US Congress, amid worries about violence along the US border with Mexico and concerns over stubbornly high US unemployment. Obama "will meet with a broad group of business, law enforcement, faith, and leaders from across the political spectrum on the importance of fixing our nation's broken immigration system," said spokesman Nick Shapiro. The president, who recently...

SAN ANTONIO -- San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro was recently profiled in the New York Times, which referenced him as the next national Hispanic leader and perhaps president. "It's been a very promising response," said Castro. "It's a very flattering article." But comments he didn't make could draw some strong opinions. His mother, Rosie Castro, had strong words when asked about her memories of the Alamo, a symbol of Texas independence. "They used to take us there when we were school children," Perez told the Times. "They told us how glorious that battle was. When I grew up, I learned...

San Antonio health officials, along with the help of the of our beloved Major Julian Castro, and the San Antonio Restaurant Association have decided to change the way food is consumed in this city. They are targeting local eateries and encouraging (read: threatening) them to offer healthier meal options, lest the restaurant be faced with future regulations or fines for non-compliance. The argue that the city is "getting heavier" and this is a viable options to combat that. Lest we succumb to the ravages of obesity, diabetes, and heart disease. Now, don't get me wrong. I'm all for healthier options,...

Michelle Roberts, AP writer writes in her piece San Antonio, restaurants fight fat by cooperating that San Antonio health officials, along with the help of the of our beloved Major Julian Castro, and the San Antonio Restaurant Association have decided to change the way food is consumed in this city. They are targeting local eateries and encouraging (read: threatening) them to offer healthier meal options, lest the restaurant be faced with future regulations or fines for non-compliance. The argue that the city is "getting heavier" and this is a viable options to combat that. Lest we succumb to the ravages...

Every politician in a tight race has wished he could be in two places at once. Julian Castro has managed to pull it off. Castro said today that his identical twin brother, San Antonio State Representative Joaquin Castro, took his spot on the San Antonio City Council barge during the Texas Cavaliers River Parade Monday night so he could attend another event. "He was standing in the River Parade, because I had to host a neighborhood leaders meeting in District Seven," Castro told 1200 WOAI's Rosalinda Montero. Castro says that is the only event where Joaquin has stood in for...