In this series, called "The New West," I'm exploring the reasons - economic, demographic, political - for that change. That political base has freed Democrats to compete in the battlegrounds of the Midwest and reach for states like Georgia, North Carolina and Virginia that were once well beyond the party’s grasp. It augured a major partisan shift throughout the West, which over the last 20 years has become a Democratic stronghold, stretching from the Pacific Coast, across the desert Southwest into the Rocky Mountains. Few, if any, considered Clinton’s victory in California the start of a political realignment he won just 46% of the vote.īut his victory and a repeat in 1996 - the product of relentless courtship and a fire hose of federal spending - helped color California a lasting shade of blue and dramatically reshaped the fight for the White House. In 1992, Arkansas’ five-term governor became the first Democratic presidential candidate in nearly three decades to carry California, the political birthplace of Richard M. Marked confidential and spilling over nearly eight pages, the document outlined a strategy considered vital to Clinton’s hopes for a second term: Lock down California and its generous share of electoral votes so his campaign could "concentrate its energy on other, more tightly contested, states.” Although Clinton was still more than a month away from becoming president, the topic was his reelection nearly four years off. (Mike Nelson / AFP/Getty Images)īill Clinton was busy filling Cabinet positions and shaping his economic agenda when a memo landed from a team of political advisors. His success helped lay the groundwork for today's solid-blue state. “Our commitment to her family, from day one, was to do justice to Keishla and we have already begun to do so.”ĬNN’s Jamiel Lynch and Gregory Lemos contributed to this report.President Clinton, greeting well-wishers at a 1996 election rally in San Diego, made a political priority of keeping California in the Democratic column. “I congratulate the policemen, prosecutors and forensic sciences personnel, who, as a single team, tirelessly and with the greatest of commitments, put their hearts to solve Keishla’s case in an agile and precise way,” said Antonio López, Puerto Rico Police Bureau Commissioner. There, they threw her into the water, with Verdejo shooting at the victim from the bridge, the complaint alleges. Verdejo and the witness then drove both his and Rodríguez Ortiz’s car to the Teodoro Moscoso Bridge over the San Jose Lagoon. After a conversation, Verdejo punched Rodríguez Ortiz in the face, injected her with a syringe, and both he and the witness restrained her arms and feet with wire, the complaint said. Verdejo and the witness, who is not named in the complaint, met her near her home. Though some of the charges carry a maximum penalty of death, it is unknown if federal prosecutors will pursue the death penalty in this case.Ī witness told authorities Verdejo contacted him to help terminate a pregnancy after Rodríguez Ortiz told him she had taken a pregnancy test and was expecting his child, according to the complaint. “We will continue working towards the ending of gender-based violence, and we offer our deepest condolences to the family of the victim.” “I commend our partners in the FBI, the Puerto Rico Police Bureau, and the Puerto Rico Department of Justice for their dedicated and tireless efforts that led to the charges and arrest of the defendant,” said US Attorney W. A day later, Verdejo – who competed in the 2012 Olympics – was arrested and charged with their kidnapping, carjacking and killing, federal court documents show.ĬNN has reached out to Verdejo’s attorneys for comment. Keishla Rodríguez Ortiz and her unborn child were found dead in the San Jose Lagoon on Saturday. Puerto Rican boxer Félix Verdejo Sánchez has been charged with kidnapping and killing a woman who said she was pregnant with his baby, according to court documents.
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