Ethnic Ironies describes the role of Latino electorates in national- and state-level politics during the 1992 elections. The book examines Latino politics from the top down?looking at the efforts of candidates and campaigns to speak to Latino concerns and to mobilize Latino voters?and from the bottom up?reviewing the efforts of Latinos to win electoral office and to influence electoral outcomes.Chronicling the campaigns and uncovering patterns of Latino influence, the core of the book consists of eight state-level analyses by experts who have observed firsthand the states with the most sizable Latino electorates. An overview chapter synthesizes and integrates the findings of these case studies, placing them in national perspective.Ethnic Ironies is the third in a series of studies on Latino electoral behavior published by Westview Press, including From Rhetoric to Reality: Latino Politics in the 1988 Elections and Barrio Ballots: Latino Politics in the 1990 Elections. This latest study also serves as a companion volume to Latino Voices: Mexican, Puerto Rican, and Cuban Perspectives on American Politics and New Americans by Choice: Political Perspectives of Latino Immigrants.

Foreword -- National Overview -- Latinos and the 1992 Elections: ¿A National Perspective -- The Old Reliables: Mexican Americans in Small Western States -- Conventional Politics Under Unusual Circumstances: Latinos and the 1992 Election in New Mexico -- An Essential Vote: Latinos and the 1992 Elections in Colorado -- Promise and Missed Opportunity: The 1992 Latino Vote in Arizona -- The Must-Wins: Key States with Large Long-Term Latino Electorates -- Unrealized Expectations: Latinos and the 1992 Elections in Texas -- Theory, Reality, and Perpetual Potential: Latinos in the 1992 California Elections -- The New Kids on the Block: Key States with New and Potentially Influential Latino Electorates -- Leverage Without Influence: Illinois Latino Politics in 1992 -- The Conservative Enclave Revisited: Cuban Americans in Florida -- Puerto Ricans in Postliberal New York: The 1992 Presidential Election