Native American vote could be key
By CNN's Richard Quest
GALLUP, New Mexico (CNN) -- It was an honor bestowed that I was allowed to mix the cake.
Not just any cake. This was a special cake for a special girl. Actually, a woman to be precise. Because it was part of the coming of age ceremony for Kassidy.
At 12, as she entered puberty, the Navajo tribe of which her family belongs, has a four-day ceremony to celebrate and bring her into womanhood.
So it was I found myself in a hut on a ranch watching a dozen or so women of all ages mixing this huge cake which would be baked overnight over an outdoor fire before being fed to the tribe.
I had already been warned to walk around the inside of the hut in a clockwise direction (the Navajo places huge sacred importance on the direction of the clock, being the direction of time and life.)
Poor Kassidy looked quite exhausted, which is not surprising since another of the ceremonies requires her to run twice a day, at morning and night, as far as she can, accompanied by female families and friends.
She was averaging running a-mile-and-a-quarter at a time!
I was hesitant to talk politics in such an sacred ceremony. But I needed not have worried. No-one else had any such worries and it wasn't long before everyone was telling me which they would vote and why.
Earlier, The Mayor of Gallup, the town up the road, made the point that even 140 years after the native Americans were conquered many in the community still dwelled on the past.
And for good reason. Much of the Navajo tribe still doesn't have running water. As Mayor Roseborough put it, the U.S. is spending a fortune building water supplies in Iraq, but can't do the same for its citizens at home.
 The celebration marked Kassidy's coming of age. |  |
Of course, I was in mainly democratic circles. Republicans among the Navajo are few and far between. But here I was struck by how they realize that this time round both political parties are vying for their vote.
After all, Al Gore only took New Mexico by 366 votes in 2000. So both sides believe that at best they can win the state and at worse, tie up the other side to spend time and money.
And one thing is clear to politician and Native American alike. Both know that the community could be the swing vote in tight states like New Mexico. So the Native Americans are making the most of their new found political importance.
Back at the Ceremony, I was invited to stir the cake and as I did so impart my thoughts for Kassidy's future.
I won't disclose what I thought, that is between me and that cake. It was only a shame I couldn't stay to taste it and with it, take some of the wisdom.
