Shereen's Blog

This time it's different, the college student said as she marked "independent" on a fresh registration form.

For Wareh, of Anaheim Hills, and thousands of other Arab Americans and Muslims in Orange County, the 2004 election is taking on the aura of a defining moment.

"We're waking up," said Wareh, 20, a film and zoology student at California State University, Fullerton. "We know we've got to become more involved in the society we live in."

Some of her community's concerns mirror the general population's - the cost of housing, education and health care. But in the wake of Sept. 11, local Muslims say their faith has been maligned, their loyalty unfairly questioned.

Islamophobia, they believe, is on the rise.

Muslims take responsibility for some of that. They are coming to realize, Wareh said, the only way to be recognized as full-status Americans is full participation in civic life. And that means more than just voting.

Arab Americans and local Muslims already vote in large numbers. An estimated 79 percent are registered and 85 percent of those say they vote, according to a 2001 poll taken on behalf of Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.

Local political activists believe the power of their community's bloc vote helped put George W. Bush in the White House four years ago. Bush won Muslim votes overwhelmingly in Florida, where he claimed the presidency with less than a 600-vote margin.

The community cast those ballots on the advice of trusted voices, such as the Council on American Islamic Relations and the Muslim Public Affairs Council. Word spread to voters over the Internet, at Islamic centers and through popular, ethnic newspapers, such as Al-Watan and Arab World in Anaheim and An-Nahar in Whittier.

"It was what he said, particularly opposing the use of secret evidence, plus, frankly, Gore ignored us," said Omar Zaki, who oversees politics for CAIR in Anaheim.

This time, their votes won't be won as easily, rank-and-file Muslim voters say. They are searching for a better understanding of issues and candidates - a stronger say in whom they will support.

"We want to create a model community with 100 percent voter registration," said Aslam Abdullah, a political adviser and founder of the newly-minted Muslim Electorate Council of America. "That's what we are aiming for. We are doing the extensive work needed to bring in as many voters as possible."

It's been months now since Orange County Muslims could go to a community event or even some private parties without running into someone with a voter registration form in hand.

Registration tables pop up outside Little Gaza restaurants along Brookhurst Street. Community members are volunteering as poll workers. Imams preach on voting.

Last month, about 300 Arab and Muslim voters, including Wareh and Nuru Nuru, a Garden Grove cab driver, packed a political forum in Buena Park, where they cheered any candidate who took a strong stand on civil rights or spoke in favor of a just solution for Palestine.

"As an American and as a Muslim, we have to worry about what is going on," said Nuru, 45, who brought his son, Nader, 15, to the forum. "America is a free country, but our freedom is taken by Sept. 11 and we have to protest for all Americans."

Around the edges of the room that night, community volunteers, some in hijabs, bent over voting machines, demonstrating how to use them. Candidates handed out campaign leaflets, and Green Party members offered to register voters. Ralph Nader even phoned in a speech announcing his hours-old candidacy for president.

"This is a critical election for us, the first high-profile national election since Sept. 11," said Zaki, 38, formerly a sales executive for a global industrial gas company. "We raise our children here. We want a secure environment for them too. Just because we go to a mosque and you go to a temple or a church - There is no difference. And our work now, all this is for the long haul."

Bush's popularity with everyday Arab Americans has plummeted from a high of about 83 percent in October 2001 to 38 percent, according to a January poll by Zogby International. The trend is the same among local Muslims.

Still, Bush has a loyal following among wealthy Arab Americans and some foreign-born Muslims. Some, including those who support his economic policies and the war in Iraq, have joined the ranks of the "Pioneers" and "Rangers," Bush loyalists who have raised $100,000 or more for his re-election campaign.

And Arab-American leaders and local Muslims, anxious to parlay support for their issues, warn candidates no one should take their community's votes for granted.

Rima Nashashibi, vice chairwoman of the Democratic Party Central Committee in Orange County, couldn't be happier with the presumably strong trend.

"I am seeing a lot of people registering and re-registering as Democrats, but a large group is registering as independent too," said Nashashibi, a Laguna Hills insurance company marketing manager.

"And, since the bloc vote in 2000, a lot of candidates have been coming to the community asking for support."

Nashashibi said her entire family registers Democrat, except for her brother, Tareef Nashishibi, who she jokingly claims was dropped on his head as a baby.

For his part, Tareef Nashashibi, chairman of the Arab- American Committee of the Orange County Republican Party, insists he's countering the trend in his family by rearing two young Republicans in Aliso Viejo, where he is a project manager for a general contractor.