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 News from Around the Americas | October 2007 
Clinton Pushes for Powerful US Latino Vote
 Agence France-Presse
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 |  | Recently the top Republican candidates snubbed an invitation to debate key issues on the Spanish-language Univision, making it plain that they see little hope in aggressively competing for Hispanic votes. |  | |
Washington — She doesn't try to speak Spanish but she still gets the cheers she seeks: Hillary Clinton is busily courting Hispanic Americans, whose political muscle could help put her in the White House.
Since launching her campaign, the New York senator and wife of ex-president Bill Clinton has methodically targetted Latino voters for support, not missing any large meeting of members of the nearly 50 million-strong Hispanic population, the biggest and fastest-growing US minority.
She has gone out of her way to appear on Spanish-language television, taken part in a debate on the massive Univision network and met Latino lawmakers.
And when they can, her staff chows down in Mexican food places, hoping to bolster Latino-friendly impressions of Clinton's campaign.
And it is paying off: the endorsements from the Hispanic community, wary over the national backlash against illegal immigration, are piling in.
Most recently she garnered the support of Antonio Villaraigosa, mayor of Los Angeles, the country' second-largest city and where about half of the inhabitants have Hispanic origins.
On Wednesday, the former first lady earned an ovation when she said in a forum for candidates organized by the Hispanic legislators caucus in Washington that she believed in the American dream and reaffirmed that the United States is "stronger because of our diversity."
Candidates in the coming primary races for the presidential nomination, and in the presidential election itself next November, ignore the Latino vote at their peril. The country is 14.8 percent Hispanic and the fight over proposals to issue tough new immigration legislation has mobilized many Latino voters.
Their support is not a given. While only 20 percent of Latinos call themselves Republicans, Republican President George W. Bush -- who does speak some Spanish -- got a surprising 42 percent of the Latino vote in the 2004 election.
But since then, many Republican Hispanics have soured on the party, seeing it has not done much for their community and that it has backed a tough crackdown on illegal immigrants that is unpopular with the community.
If they are mobilized, US Latino voters could make the difference in the 2008 race -- and so Clinton is working hard to woo them.
Clinton does not hesitate to advertise her connection to the community.
"Thirty five years ago, I traveled through South Texas, registering Latino voters with help from my friend Raul Yzaguirre," she tells the Washington audience, referring to the prominent Mexican American civil rights activist.
"We traveled many miles and knocked on many doors, encouraging people to take that first step to be at the table through the power of their vote," she says.
She unfailingly points out that her campaign Chief of Staff, Patty Solis Doyle, is the daughter of Mexican immigrants.
Latinos could play an even more decisive role that in previous years in the primaries, which begin in January. Previously the primaries were led by small states such as Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina that have fairly small Latino populations.
But this time around, large states with larger Hispanic populations like New York, Florida and California have pushed their primaries forward to February 5, 2008, in order to have a greater say in who the final candidates are.
The prize is within Clinton's grasp. Republican candidates appear to have forsaken the Latino vote, recognizing that the illegal immigration issue has poisoned the field for conservatives.
Republicans are blamed by many for blocking the progressive parts of the legislation, to regularize the status of some 12 million illegal immigrants, most of them Hispanic, that Bush himself backed.
Recently the top Republican candidates snubbed an invitation to debate key issues on the Spanish-language Univision, making it plain that they see little hope in aggressively competing for Hispanic votes. |
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