Milpitas' current mayor and his predecessor have taken leadership roles in the Asian- and Pacific-American community for the U.S. presidential campaigns.

Former mayor Henry Manayan, who served three terms in Milpitas from 1996-2002, is a member of the executive board of the California Democratic Party and chair of the Filipino American Democratic Caucus. Manayan, who is Filipino and Chinese and grew up in Hawaii, served as Northern California Asian Pacific American co-chair for the 2008 presidential campaign of Sen. Hillary Clinton, and is now campaigning for Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama.

Milpitas Mayor Jose Esteves is supporting Republican nominee Sen. John McCain, and serves as chair of the Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders coalition for McCain in the South Bay. Esteves, who was born and raised in the Philippines, has mostly refrained from national or party politics during his career, but felt compelled to get involved this year.

"There are very glaring differences between the candidates," Esteves said when asked what motivated him to campaign for McCain. "When you look at (the candidates') background and record, people are taking a big risk in voting for Obama."

Esteves pointed to McCain's military experience, and said a lack of military duty made Obama unfit to be commander-in-chief.

Esteves, who has met with McCain, also said he was concerned at the number of "present" votes that Obama recorded while a state senator in

"I'm a mayor, and if I do that, the people might recall me," Esteves said. "In the White House you have to decide Ôyes' or Ôno.'"

A registered Republican, Esteves said he has voted for Democratic presidential candidates in the past and that he is more concerned with credentials than party affiliation when choosing a candidate.

"In Congress and national politics, the country's issues seem now to be subordinate to party issues," Esteves said.

He said this is the most active he has been in a presidential election, serving as a surrogate speaker for McCain, fundraising, and organizing volunteers to put up fliers and signs. Esteves said he realized that campaigning for McCain in California is an almost surely futile effort, as the state is a traditional stronghold for Democrats.

An event Esteves helped plan at Mount Hamilton Grange Hall in San Jose last month (McCain did not attend) brought about 150 supporters.

In contrast, a downtown San Jose rally that Manayan helped plan for Clinton in February brought in more than 4,000 supporters. Clinton attended.

Manayan has been an active supporter of Democratic presidential candidates since 1992, and served on the White House Asian Pacific American Advisory Panel under former president Bill Clinton.

He said that during the 2008 Democratic primaries he helped organize day-to-day operations for Hillary Clinton's San Jose campaign headquarters, organized phone-banking activities for campaign volunteers, and created talking points and press releases for Clinton to use while dealing with local ethnic media.

He said he was disappointed when Hillary Clinton lost the nomination race to Obama, but that she met with her top supporters and asked them to get behind Obama.

"It wasn't easy," Manayan said. "A lot of our volunteers were hard-core Hillary supporters, and still are."

But Manayan said he is actively supporting Obama because he believes the senator is much more in touch with what the American people want, and that he will strengthen the economy.

"Also, Barack understands and empathizes with the ordinary person," Manayan said. "He has this incredible capacity to inspire people, especially the youth and people that traditionally did not come out for elections."

Both Milpitas politicians think that their candidate of choice will ultimately prevail in a close presidential election. Both mayors agree, though, that the election marks a new level of influence for Asians and Pacific Islanders.

"Both the Obama and Clinton campaigns organized Asian and Pacific American task forces on a national, state and regional level. That has never happened before in a presidential election," Manayan said. "The role of our community is changing and people are recognizing our continuously growing influence."