美中期选举：共和党版奥巴马横空出世？
据法新社报道，作为第一位摩门教徒的黑人女性议员，米娅·洛夫迅速在星期三成为共和党的“新宠”。
人们很快将她与奥巴马进行对比，尤其是她在共和党2012年的全国代表大会白手起家并赢得喝彩的故事，和2004年的奥巴马极为相似。
洛夫出生于布鲁克林区一个海地裔的家庭，其父母在20世纪70年代中期来到美国。她在采访中说到，父亲为了让家里三个孩子上学有时会多做一份打扫厕所的工作。她毕业于哈特福德大学并取得美术学位。
犹他州立大学的政治学教授达蒙·卡恩表示：自奥巴马当选以来,共和党人一直在努力地展示共和党内的多样性，洛夫被视为是共和党增强多样化的模范性人物，这就意味着她在政治方面必然会有所成就。
在CNN的采访中，她说道：“我被选不是因为我的肤色或性别。犹他州人不会考虑种族或性别，只考虑选举人是否诚实正直。而这才是历史的根源，与种族性别无关。”
尽管如此，评论家一致认为，洛夫是共和党人的真正的法宝。
Even her name is media friendly. Mia Love instantly became the darling of the Republican Party on Wednesday, after being elected as its first black female member of Congress -- and she is a Mormon to boot.
She has also rapidly drawn comparisons with Barack Obama, not least since she wowed her party's 2012 national convention with a tale of rags-to-political-riches, much like the young Senator Obama did in 2004.
"Many of the naysayers out there said that Utah would never elect a black Republican LDS woman to Congress," she said at her victory rally, referring to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or Mormons.
"Not only did we do it, we were the first to do it," said the 38-year-old, who was previously mayor of Saratoga Springs, a city 35 miles (56 kilometers) south of Salt Lake City.
Born Ludmya Bourdeau in Brooklyn to Haitian-American parents, Love catapulted herself into Washington's political spotlight by winning the Mormon-dominated western US state's Fourth Congressional District.
Love's parents came from Haiti in the mid-1970s, and she recalls in interviews how her father at times took second jobs cleaning toilets to pay for school for their three children.
She graduated from the University of Hartford, Connecticut with a degree in Fine Arts. A Catholic by upbringing, she found the Mormon faith before finding her white Mormon husband Jason Love.
Love is a minority in both her state and church: barely one percent of Utahans are black or African American, while only an estimated three percent of Mormons are. Mormons make up about 60 percent of Utah's population.
- 'Poster child' for GOP diversity -
She is fond of recalling what her father told her on her day of college orientation: "Mia, your mother and I never took a handout. You will not be a burden to society. You will give back," she notes on her own website.
Love made headlines when she took the stage at the 2012 Republican National Convention in Tampa, Florida -- which nominated Mitt Romney, also a Mormon, as its presidential nominee.
"My parents immigrated to the US with 10 dollars in their pocket, believing that the America they had heard about really did exist," she told the crowd.
"When times got tough they didn't look to Washington, they looked within."
Damon Cann, politics professor at Utah State University, said Love is bound for greater things in Washington.
"Since the election of Barack Obama, the Republicans have been more serious about trying to showcase the diversity within the Republican Party," he told the Salt Lake Tribune.
"And Mia Love is potentially the poster child for diversity in the party," he added.
Despite proclaiming her first-black-Republican-congresswoman credentials in her victory speech Tuesday night, Love was keen Wednesday to downplay suggestions that her race or gender won the election.
"I wasn't elected because of the color of my skin, I wasn't elected because of my gender," she told CNN in an interview.
"Understand that Utahans have made a statement that they're not interested in dividing Americans based on race or gender, that they want to make sure that they are electing people who are honest and who have integrity.
"That's really what made history here. Race, gender had nothing to do with it."
Commentators agreed that Love is a real asset for the Republicans.
She "is poised to become an important symbol for the GOP as the party seeks to broaden its appeal among blacks and other minorities, who typically vote overwhelmingly Democratic," noted the Christian Science Monitor.
The Washington Post added: "A party threatened with electoral extinction among African Americans and immigrants now has someone to brag about in Washington.
"Love's compelling personal story is an oasis. She's not just a black face in what's often described as a party full of angry old white men. She's a path forward," it said.
