FALLS CHURCH, VA --- The Vietnamese are on a roll in both sides of the Pacific.
Their country of origin, Vietnam, hosted for the first time the Asian Pacific Economic Cooperation, an economic savant of 21 Asian and Pacific countries. After a feverish transition from communist to a more capitalistic form of government, it is now the fourth ranking trade partner of the United States, and is in the cusp of gaining a coveted membership in the World Trade Organization.
On this side of the Pacific, Vietnamese American voters in Virginia helped tilt the balance of political power in the midterm election from the well-entrenched Republicans to the victorious Democrats in the United States Congress.
“Democrats Take Senate, Thanks to Virginia,” a New York Times sub-headlined on Nov. 10, with a final 51 to 49 advantage. And so went the nation, too, with help from a big turnout of Vietnamese American and other Asian Pacific American voters in Virginia...
