Small sales tax increase translates to high-quality pre-K in San Antonio

>>> let's bring in now from san antonio , texas , the democratic mayor of san antonio , mayor julian castro . mayor castro, good to have you on the show this morning.

>> good to be with you all.

>> very good news for anyone in your city that likes high-quality pre-k. congratulations.

>> that's right. thank you very much. on tuesday night, san antonioans voted to impose one-eighth of 1 cent sales tax to fund high-quality full-day pre-k for over 22,0004-year-olds in our city over the next several years. so we're a city that believes that if you create opportunity for folks now, then we're going to see prosperity in the future.

>> richard wolffe .

>> i just think, you know, when you look at the proposition it was until this election, the democrats could not get elected promising to raise taxes on anyone.

>> yeah.

>> that was the conventional wisdom for years. and here you have the mayor and full credit to you for taking this to the people. and it is a minuscule tax rise. but to say that taxes have a purpose, that it's not just about extraction, it's about investment, i think that's a model for how democrats can move forward. it's not raising taxes for the sake of it. if taxes are done right, they should have a purpose.

>> yeah. you know, one of the things that i've said in the past is that i don't believe that taxes are inherently evil. you know, they're a tool that if you use them well and if folks know what they're getting and the elected officials are held accountable and you make a good investment, then it makes sense to folks and they're willing to do it. if you don't use folks' money wisely and they can tell, then, of course, it's a bad thing. but here, for the purpose of education in a state that ranks about 45th or 47th in terms of per-pupil spending, san antonioans could see that in order to have economic prosperity in the future in this 21st sentry global economy where brain power is the new currency of success, it made a lot of sense to invest this small amount for a big reward in the future.

>> john heilemann?

>> hey, mr. mayor, it's john heilemann. we've been talking a lot about demography on the show. texas has a huge and growing hispanic population. how many cycles is it going to be before that demographic trend makes texas a really competitive state for democrats on a statewide basis?

>> that's the $64,000 question , isn't it? i believe that it's going to be about six to eight years. what we see in texas and what you see in other states is that, of course, the hispanic vote is growing. i think in this election, this national election, that it was the only significant demographic group that both grew in terms of percentage of the overall vote and also delivered a higher percentage for the democratic candidate for barack obama . here in texas , the hispanic vote has been growing tremendously because hispanics accounted for 65% of the population growth over the last decade. we're going to see more and more democratic candidates get elected to local races, county races and, for instance, here in the san antonio area, for the first time in a long time, we saw a 32-county region elect three democrats out of five folks that were up. at the statewide level, it's going to take a little bit longer. i would say the next six to eight years.

>> all right. mayor julian castro , thank you so much. congratulations.

>> great to be with you all.

>>> coming up, we talk to obama campaign senior adviser, david axelrod .

>> oh, no.

>> we'll be right back.