By: Daniel Nardini

I think it says something about how all of the presidential candidates, both Democrat and Republican, are ignoring some of the issues. At a debate for the three Republican candidates held in Florida, hosted by CNN and moderated by Wolf Blitzer, the issue of Puerto Rico came up. The issue about whether the three candidates considered the importance of Puerto Rico’s referendum on statehood or independence was almost totally ignored. Only Rick Santorum bothered to answer what he thought about the issue, and his answer was vague and non-committal. Neither Mitt Romney nor Newt Gingrich answered the question, and moderator Wolf Blitzer struck the question from the debate. In the end, almost all of the Puerto Ricans in the audience walked out. Many of them were leading state Republicans as well as from the Puerto Rican Chamber of Florida. They were stunned and saddened that none of the Republican candidates bothered with this question, and sadly no one is thinking about Puerto Rico’s importance to the United States.

The Republican candidates are not the only ones guilty of not considering Puerto Rico. U.S. President Barack Obama has not mentioned anything about Puerto Rico or the importance of Puerto Ricans in the United States. The issue of Puerto Rico is very important . Puerto Rico is a part of the United States, and how Puerto Ricans vote for the status of their island will affect the whole United States directly. While Puerto Ricans are not likely to vote for independence, a vote for statehood could greatly affect the balance of the United States, and what it means to have a 51st state in the union. While Puerto Ricans in Puerto Rico cannot vote in presidential elections, we must keep in mind that there are six million Puerto Ricans in the United States and most of them are eligible to vote in U.S. presidential elections. This means that the Puerto Rican vote in the United States is very valuable. In Florida alone there are 833,000 Puerto Rican voters—the second largest number of voters in that state only behind Cuban American voters.

You can be sure that even though millions of Puerto Ricans live in the United States, they have families and friends back in Puerto Rico, and a strong emotional attachment to the island many of them were born and raised in. What affects Puerto Rico affects Puerto Ricans in the United States. So any presidential candidate who ignores Puerto Rico and Puerto Rican issues is doing so at their own jeopardy. It seems sad that this is indeed what all of the candidates are doing—with dire consequences for this country.