New California A-G Kamala Haris does pride to Tamils

New California A-G Kamala Haris does pride to Tamils

Indian-American Kamala Devi Harris has became the first woman and first non-white candidate to win a closely contested election for the post of California's Attorney-General last month. Ms. Harris took over as California's top law enforcement officer on January 1, 2011.

Endorsed by U.S. President Barack Obama, Indian-American Kamala Harris won the election for Attorney General of California. Daughter of a South Indian mother and African-American father, Harris was the San Francisco Attorney General before. She replaces Democratic Jerry Brown who won the election for Governor of California..

Harris was the only Indian-American candidate to be publicly endorsed by Obama. The US President had also attended a fund raiser for Harris in California last month. "Kamala has done a remarkable job in San Francisco. Now it's time to send her to Sacramento so she can get those same results for all Californians -- but she needs our help if she's going to win this race," Obama had said in his endorsement message last month.

An early Obama backer during the 2008 election cycle, Harris in turn benefited from the president's support during her recent campaign. For the up-and-coming Democratic star -- the state's first woman, South Indian and African American attorney general -- her predecessor and California Governor-elect Jerry Brown is a model to follow in cracking down on lenders. Brown sued Countrywide in 2008 over its mortgage practices, which led to a consent judgment with Bank of America. The bank committed to loan modifications which it valued at roughly $8.4 billion nationally.

Born and raised in the East Bay, Kamala was elected as the first woman District Attorney in San Francisco's history in December 2003, and as the first African-American woman and South Asian American woman in California to hold the office. She was overwhelmingly reelected to a second term in November 2007.

Harris won the statewide attorney general race by less than 75,000 votes out of nearly 9 million cast, edging out Republican Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley

46 year old Kamala is the daughter of Shyamala Gopalan, a Tamilian breast cancer specialist who traveled to the United States from Chennai, to pursue her graduate studies at UC Berkeley. Her father is a Jamaican-born economics professor. Kamala's aunt is Sarala Gopalan, former head of the Department of Gynaecology at the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education (Chandigarh). Dr. Sarala Gopalan said her multi-cultural roots were a huge advantage as she was hugely popular among the Chinese and Hispanics.

"She's a rare talent who will be a national figure shortly. People call her the female Obama. It's more apt to say she is the female Obama that progressives thought they were voting for," a former Clinton aide who is now a consultant in California, said. However she resisted all comparisons saying, "It's flattering."

"These comparisons make me uncomfortable because I know what I want to do. I am really excited about being attorney general," she said.

Another Indian origin woman becomes Governor

In key mid-term polls in which President Obama's Democrats were routed, 38-year-old-Nikki Haley, born of Sikh parents who migrated from Punjab, of Republican Party scripted history, and became only the second Indian- American to be a Governor of South Carolina, a U.S. State after Bobby Jindal of Louisiana; and also the first Indian-origin woman governor.

Haley received 52 per cent of votes as against her Democratic rival Vincent Sheehan who polled 46 per cent. She has served three-terms in the South Carolina House of Representatives where she represented Lexington County and was also the first Indian-American to hold office in that state.