Dr. S.B. (Shien-Biau) Woo, born in Shanghai, is a physicist and former Lieutenant Governor (1985-89) of Delaware. He is currently on the Steering Committee of the 80-20 Initiative, a national nonpartisan Political Action Committee dedicated to working for equality and justice for all Asian Americans. The goal of 80-20 is to form a block-vote in favor of the presidential candidate most likely to assist Asian Americans in achieving equal opportunity. In this year's presidential election, 80-20 has selected the Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore. Dr. S.B. Woo discusses some of the key issues for Asian American voters, the reason behind his organization's support for Gore, and how 80-20 strives to give Asian Americans more political influence.

Can you talk a little bit about how the 80-20 Initiative began and about the goals of the organization?

The idea of forming the 80-20 Initiative began at the height of the "campaign finance scandal of 1997,' when the image of the entire Asian American community was tarnished for the mistakes of a few. It was a time when the Republican Party stopped just short of calling all Asian Americans foreigners, and the Democratic Party, that wanted our money, now wanted to keep as large a distance from us as possible. That's when the idea of forming a powerful Asian American political group came up.

Obviously, the goal is therefore to empower our community politically.

It has been suggested that neither of the US presidential candidates has made much effort with regard to the Asian American community. How, then, did the 80-20 Initiative committee select Gore for president? What has he done in the past for Asian Americans? Has Gore stated explicitly what his policy objectives regarding Asian Americans are?

In some sense you are right. Mind you, 80-20 was formed because neither major political party has served our rightful interest satisfactorily. Our idea is to demonstrate that Asian Americans have wisened up and united politically. We want to demonstrate through the presidential election of 2000 that we can deliver 80% of our money and votes to the candidate who 80-20 endorses, so that thereafter the two parties will compete to serve our rightful interests in order to earn our endorsement in the next election.

To demonstrate, we need a vehicle. Vice President Gore and his party as a package has been chosen to be our vehicle, because in relative terms, Gore and his Democratic party both do more for Asian Americans than their counter parts. Gore committed very strongly to 80-20's Declaration (visit http://www.80-20.to), while Bush didn't. The White House recently made some significant gestures to the Asian American community including the historic appointment of the first cabinet secretary (Norman Mineta) and the retrospective awarding of medals of honor to Asian American soldiers for their part in WWII, while the Republican-controlled Congress did nothing for us. In addition, the Democratic party takes a more enlightened view toward immigration and punishing hate-crime, which all Asian Americans care about.

Was the selection of Joe Lieberman as the Democratic vice-presidential candidate a factor in 80-20 selecting Gore for President? Can Asian Americans identify with Joe Lieberman's experience as a Jewish American (that is, do you think that there are similarities in the experiences of Jewish Americans and Asian Americans)?

Yes, there are similarities in the experiences of Jewish Americans and Asian Americans. But Senator Lieberman's Vice president candidacy was not a factor in our endorsement decision.

80-20 believes that most politicians are as decent as you and me. However, they are constantly pulled and tugged by powerful political forces. As a result, elected officials, regardless of their personal decency, can only afford to pay attention to issues raised by those forces that could either reward or punish their political careers. Hence, the only way the Asian American community can protect itself is to become a viable political force.

It has been suggested in AsianWeek that the Asian American vote is split 50-50 between Democrats and Republicans. How do you plan to get individual voters to give up their original party affiliation and vote for the candidate that 80-20 has chosen?

Our polls reveal that Asian Americans are already going 70-30 for Gore. We are working on nudging the bloc-vote to 80-20 through e-mails, airing radio and TV spots, and mobilizing our supporters to gather signatures to support Gore from their friends and relatives.

A few commentators have argued that some of the plans which 80-20 is proposing, such as the one which calls for the prosecution of all cases of racial discrimination, seem to be a reiteration of what is already stated in the US Bill of Rights. How do the demands that your organization is making differ from what is already US law?

Anyone with some knowledge of the US will know that the rich hiring good lawyers get more legal protection from the laws in the book than the poor folks. Similarly, the majority and the powerful ethnic groups get more benefits from the US Bill of Rights than the Asian American community.

Right now 80-20 is predominantly Chinese American, although I know efforts are being made to reach out to other Asian Americans groups. What is the common issue that unites Asian American voters and how do you plan to bring them together despite multiple languages, histories, and goals?

All Asian American communities share one common interest -- win first-class citizenship for its members. It makes no difference whether it's a Filipino American or Korean American or Indian American community, each wants to win equal justice and equal opportunity in workplaces for its members. Hence our research has revealed equal receptivity to 80-20 in all Asian American communities.

However, 80-20's e-mail list is still predominantly Chinese-Americans, because we started collecting e-mail addresses of the Chinese American community when it was an experimental attempt by Chinese Americans only. Hence 80-20's name recognition factor is the highest in the Chinese American community. But time is on our side. 80-20 will be equally well known in all Asian American communities in a matter of months so long as 80-20 continues to serve that community well.

In terms of support for Gore, it is the weakest in the Vietnamese American community. However, it is not because Vietnamese Americans do not support the idea of 80-20, it is rather due to a historic factor – the Vietnamese-American community is traditionally very pro-Republican. Had 80-20 endorsed Bush, 80-20 would have spread very fast in the Vietnamese American community as well.

In the past, have levels of voter participation among Asian Americans differed substantially from the national average?

To our shame, the level of Asian American voter participation was only half that of the national average for decades. 80-20 is using high technology e-mail and web sites to improve on it. However, it is not our focus for the election of 2000.

Our focus for this election is to get those who have already registered to understand the need of a bloc-vote for now and the immediate future. Once Asian Americans have achieved equal opportunity, I would personally advocate abandoning the idea of a bloc-vote and melting into mainstream society while maintaining our cultural identity.

What kinds of initiatives are you taking to encourage Asian American youth to become more actively involved in the electoral process?

Supporters of 80-20 have spoken in many university campuses. For example, just this coming month, I'll be speaking to Asian American student groups at Harvard and Stanford.

Interview conducted by Jennifer Fong of AsiaSource