Hispanics, once again, a political non-factor at Democratic Convention

The political mantra from the campaign of Barack Obama has been about the great need for change! At political rallies our community has heard the rallying cries of “Si Se Puede.” For the Hispanic community the rallying call stood as a beacon of hope, one that many hoped would bring the light of day to our ongoing political struggle. Many stood and listened to Obama speak about the immigration issue, he being an immigrant himself, many more hoped that here finally was a politician that understood the issue, would do something to address and resolve it.

Unfortunately as we sit and watch the Democratic convention unfold on our TV’s, there has been no discussion of the immigration issue, which affects our communities. The Democratic Party platform in fact offered little if nothing new in regards to calling or advancing a just humane immigration policy. What has not changed is the fact there are fewer Hispanic delegates at this year’s convention than in 2004, and Hispanic delegates numbered but 12% at the convention. Even worse, politically, has been the lack of Hispanic presence at the Democratic convention, and in particular that no Hispanic leaders were scheduled to appear on prime television time.

No Fabian Nuñez, leader of the California Assembly, no Antonio Villaraigosa, Mayor of one of the largest cities in the country, or anyone of political importance delivering a giving a keynote address speech to millions of viewers. For Hispanics it is apparent that nothing has changed. The 2008 convention like the 2004 convention, in fact all past conventions, remains the same. Large number of brown faces in the background, on the convention floor, but no keynote speakers. Much has been made over the importance of the Hispanic vote; however it is apparent that is not the case at the 2008 convention.

The Hispanic community instead of getting keynote speakers, instead have been given Chicago City Clerk Miguel del Valle, former Secretary of Energy and Transportation Federico Peña, and Representative Xavier Becerra (D-CA), Assistant to the Speaker of the House. Only one featured speaker has been presented, termed out – ex presidential candidate, Governor Bill Richardson. Richardson a one time Clinton supporter who owed his political career to the Clintons dropped out of the presidential race and threw his support to Obama. If one wanted to view and listen to any of the above speakers, one has to be an avid viewer of C-Span and in most cases be a night owl.

It was just 4 years ago that a young State Senator from Illinois, Barack Obama who was then unknown nationally was given the opportunity to be a keynote speaker at the 2004 Democratic Convention. Obama gave an inspiring speech that thrilled millions of viewers across the nation and became an overnight household word that then allowed him to launch his presidential political career. Obama went from a State Senator, to US Senator and now to the presidency in less than four years!

For Barack Obama and the Afro-American community things have changed, and “Si Se Puede” does aptly apply. However for the Hispanic community, the largest growing population in the U.S. it is obvious that once again it has been again relegated to the cheering section, and taken for granted by the Democratic Party. Politically it appears that the more things change, the more they remain the same!

Editorial
La Prensa-San Diego

Political parties try to enlist Hispanics

Spanish speakers seeking deals on a hot and humid summer Saturday also had to answer to a civics question popular this time of year.

"Are you registered to vote?" Democratic party volunteer Margarita Heideman asked shoppers in Spanish.

Political parties are posing that same question in Hispanic neighborhoods across the country, a faction U.S. Census data show is the nation's fastest growing minority community.

On Saturday, Manatee's political parties were out in force at Bradenton's Red Barn Flea Market, a popular stop for local migrant workers.

"Get your citizenship and vote," Heideman says to an immigrant who doesn't have legal status here. "Seek out the papers to be able to vote."

Backers from each party competed for the attention of throngs of market customers.

"Talk with your friends about voting for Obama," Heideman says in Spanish, to those browsing olives and pickles at The Pickle Barrel across the way.

At the food court, the Republican Executive Committee makes its argument that the Republican ethos aligns with the values of Hispanic households.

"They believe in high moral principles of the home - the core principles of our party," said Freda Tussey, the Republican committee member staffing the club's Red Barn booth.

The committee has started its calls into Manatee's Hispanic households, as well, while the Democratic party knocks on doors in Spanish-speaking neighborhoods.

"We're trying to make the language barrier a non-issue," Republican committee chairwoman Kathy King said this week from Minnesota, where she'll cheer for candidate John McCain at the Republican National Convention. "We think we have the issues on our sides. If we can communicate that to them clearly, we think they'll turn our way."

But some polling suggests they won't.

A Pew Hispanic Center report released last month showed Obama ahead among Hispanics 66 to 23 percent over McCain.

Still, McCain's previous support of immigration reform, a hot-button issue for English and Spanish speakers alike, could give him an extra leg up among the Hispanic community in Florida.

"I think Latinos have a lot to lose if Republicans are elected again," Heideman said. "They are scared. They feel they don't have control."

Despite the best efforts of political volunteers on a muggy morning, few shoppers had registered to vote as of the noon hour. None of them spoke Spanish.

Before heading back into the market's grocery and clothing booths, Rashica Ford-Moses and her husband, Willie Ford, stopped by the Democratic booth to register. It will be their first time casting ballots - possibly for Barack Obama.

"I was watching the Democratic National Convention, and I was intrigued by him," he said.

By MAURA POSSLEY
Bradenton Herald

Your party or your people?

They seek personal political empowerment so they can help their people.

But something happens to many Hispanic community activists on their way to gaining that power. In order to move up the ladder, they often are forced to cut deals with the political establishment and to become peons of political party machines.

Rapidly -- before you can say, "No se vendan!" ("Don't sell yourselves!") -- many of them are more faithful to their parties than to their own people.

Some of them even convince themselves that their parties' interests -- issue by issue -- are exactly the same as the interests of the Latino community.

We know that is not true. We know that Democrats are good for Latinos on many issues, just as Republicans are good for us on many others. But these extremely partisan "community leaders" want us to believe that their respective parties are the greatest things that ever happened to the Hispanic community. And both major parties have the gall to say this after so many years of neglecting the Hispanic community.

Many of these so-called Latino leaders will be delegates at the Democratic and Republican conventions during the next two weeks. The questions are: Will they be there for their parties or their people? Will they remember why they got into politics in the first place? Will they be there because they are "committed" to seeing that their parties' nominees win the general election? Or will they go to the conventions to raise the issues that concern their people and to challenge the candidates and the party platforms when necessary? Those who go to the conventions for the latter are the real Latino community leaders. The others are party activists who happen to be Hispanic. There is a huge difference.

Let's hope there will be some who will ask the right questions: How many Latinos are on the candidates' inner circles of campaign advisers? Does the lack of big-name Latinos in either camp reflect the kind of Cabinet Obama or McCain would appoint? If they put so few Latinos on their staffs, why are we to think that their administrations would be different?

And on the issues Latinos care about -- such as education, health care, immigration and U.S. relations with Latin America -- how about some specific details on how these candidates expect to make a difference in our lives?

Instead, what we already see out of the Democratic convention in Denver is Latinos ridiculously clinging to Sen. Hillary Clinton and expressing resentment because she didn't win the Democratic nomination, as if Clinton would have been the first Latina president! You see them rocking the boat over party politics, but not over community issues. You see them challenging Obama over Clinton, but not about what he is going to do for the "barrios."

Don't get me wrong; there are some exceptions. Some Latino activists will go to the conventions seeking recognition and empowerment for their people. Those are the Latinos who will have the guts to tell their fellow Democrats that they are dead wrong in opposing the free trade agreement with Colombia. Those are the Latinos who will have the courage to stop McCain from naming an anti-immigrant zealot as a running mate. Those are the Latino Democrats and Republicans who will go to their conventions seeking to convince their fellow party activists that the politics of xenophobia is counterproductive.

Unfortunately, too many Latino delegates will be there just to put a HISPANIC rubber stamp on their parties' nominees.

You will see them wearing funny hats and buttons claiming that Latinos are for Obama or for McCain. But Latinos should be challenging Obama and McCain to demonstrate just how they are for Latinos.

By Miguel Perez
Opinion piece on Reporter News

Rising Hispanic vote shifts focus off Cuba

Carlos Pereira grinned widely as he stood in the outgoing tide of newly sworn-in citizens leaving a Miami naturalization ceremony. So far, he had registered 328 people, mostly from Latin American countries. Only 62 of them were from Cuba.
''This year is exceptional because there is so much diversity,'' said Pereira, a native of Honduras who heads the Miami-based Center for Immigrant Orientation. ``This change is exciting because it will bring a diversity to political power.''

The trend that Pereira sees in the voter registration trenches mirrors the one pollsters are seeing statewide: There is a new Hispanic majority in Florida, and it is not Cuban.

According to numbers from the Democratic polling firm Bendixen and Associates, 44 percent of the state's 1.1 million Hispanic voters hail from the Dominican Republic, Colombia, Venezuela, Nicaragua and other Latin American countries -- slightly more than the Cubans, at 40 percent. In 2000, non-Cuban voters represented 19 percent of the Hispanic vote, Bendixen polling shows.

Hispanic Democrats also now outnumber Hispanic Republicans in Florida, making what had long been a relatively predictable voter population for politicians much more fluid.

''In order to survive here, candidates are going to have to keep the Cuban line, but also have to increasingly appeal to the non-Cuban Hispanics by catering to their issues,'' said Florida International University pollster Dario Moreno.

The newcomers, many of them just entering the U.S. political fray, are poised to exert unprecedented influence in this election year as the unquestioned dominance of the traditionally Republican Cuban voting block begins to wane.

''Over the last 10 years, there have been significant voter registration efforts targeting these groups, and we're seeing dividends of that at the ballot box,'' said Fernand Amandi of Bendixen & Associates, which recently signed on to do polling work for presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama. ``They are going to continue to assert themselves politically and to influence elections on local, state and national level for years to come.''

Despite their growing might in numbers, these other Hispanic voting communities are a political unknown. Although many are registering as Democrats, there are certain issues related to their homelands that may lead them to vote differently than their new voter registration cards suggest.

ISSUE OF FREE TRADE

One such issue is the free-trade agreement with Colombia -- supported by congressional Republicans and stalled by Democrats -- which is pushing many Colombian-American Democrats to question their party affiliation.

The non-Cuban Hispanic voters are in varying stages of local political organization. Many of them -- including Colombians, Venezuelans and Dominicans -- have organizations agitating for more political power.

The Dominican community has a sophisticated network of political operators strategically placed across the state, with phone banks that marshal 30 volunteers to call likely voters. They organize political caravans that wind through South Florida neighborhoods.

The problem, according to many local Dominican activists: Their energy is focused on the wrong elections.

Those highly developed political machines are dedicated to races on their island patria, not here in the United States. A group is setting out to change that with the creation of a new political organization called the U.S. Dominican Political Action Committee, or USDOPAC.

''If it's always the same people in power over and over, democracy dies,'' said Rosa Kasse, 59, president of the Hispanic Coalition and executive director of the political action committee. ``We believe fresh minds and fresh spirit will inject new power into the system.''

The political action committee's leadership includes a mix of Democrats like Kasse and Republicans. The organizers also invited local leaders of the Dominican political parties to be on the board to avoid a perceived alliance with any of them.

So far, they have backed a Dominican candidate's unsuccessful run for Miramar City Council and are organizing meetings with candidates. READ MORE

BY CASEY WOODS
Miami Herald

2008 Election Forecast: All Eyes on Florida, Again

Florida has been hotly contested in each of the past four elections. Bill Clinton finished 100,000 votes behind President George Bush in 1992, but four years later he carried the state by 303,000 votes. George W. Bush , after his virtual tie — just 537 votes — with Al Gore in 2000, won the most decisive victory of the four in 2004 — by 381,000 votes over John Kerry .

John McCain got off to something of a head start this year in Florida as a result of the asymmetrical ways in which the parties handled the state’s decision to hold a Jan. 29 presidential primary that violated both national parties’ scheduling rules. The Democratic National Committee prevailed upon its candidates to not campaign for primary votes and initially stripped the state of all its Democratic convention delegates (waiting until nearly the end of the nominating process to restore half of the delegate votes). The Republican National Committee, by contrast, took just half the state’s convention delegates away at the start and did not dissuade GOP candidates from campaigning for Florida primary votes.

As a result, McCain had a high profile en route to his pivotal primary victory by 5 percentage points over Mitt Romney. That primary was open only to registered Republicans and helped McCain dispel suggestions he could only win in states that allowed independents and even Democrats to participate in GOP contests.

“Under normal circumstances John McCain — with his background, with his persona, his high level of public and generally positive awareness — would carry Florida,” Bob Graham, the former Democratic senator and 2004 presidential hopeful, says. “But 2008 is not going to be an average year.”

Florida voters have been hit hard by the real estate downturn and the overall economic slump, creating what Graham describes as an “anxious” political climate that he thinks will be receptive to Obama’s “change” message.

Harnessing Florida’s vastly expanded and diverse population of more than 18 million people is a challenge for any candidate.

To win back the state, many strategists say, Obama would have to rally one or more segments of its diverse population, including Hispanics, African-Americans, Jews and registered independents.

For example, if Obama carries the Hispanic vote by 10 percentage points, which no Democratic nominee has accomplished, that would “almost single-handedly wipe out” Bush’s 2004 margin of victory, according to Fernand Amandi, executive director of Bendixen & Associates, a Miami consulting firm.

Hispanics trend solidly Democratic in other states, but in Florida, where they make up 20 percent of the population, many are Cuban-Americans who have traditionally supported the GOP because of its hard-line opposition to Fidel Castro’s regime in their homeland.

Democrats are banking on a big African-American surge at the polls for Obama. The state is 16 percent African-American, and black voters helped Obama trump Clinton in Duval County, home to Jacksonville, in the primary.

Republican strategist Brett Doster sees McCain’s vocal support for Israel as helping him make inroads with the state’s Jewish population.

Susan MacManus, a University of South Florida politics professor, said McCain should draw well among the state’s ample population from the upper age brackets, a demographic that was not a great strength for Obama in his quest for the nomination. “The Boomers and older are looking for somebody that’s experienced,” she says. She thinks that McCain’s background as a Navy pilot, Vietnam prisoner of war and “strong defense” senator will appeal not only to the many Floridians tied to the military but also to conservative voters who support an assertive use of U.S. might. READ MORE

By Rachel Kapochunas, CQ Politics

Are Obama, McCain reaching Hispanic voters?

TAMPA — Juan Velazquez's words made Evelyn Hale cringe.

"I'm going for (John) McCain," said the empanada shop worker of Puerto Rican descent. "I see him more as a leader."

"Not to be racist,'' he added, "but if (Barack) Obama wins, black people are going to want back what was taken from them. . . . A lot of racial things are going to start to happen if Obama wins."

Hale, 28, left frustrated because she thinks Obama's message isn't reaching Hispanics and the Democrats aren't connecting with them as voters.

A Democrat who is half Colombian, Hale started the Hispanic Vision Forum this year with Republican co-founder Angelette Aviles, 32, who is of Puerto Rican descent. It is a nonpartisan effort that the women fund out of their own pockets to encourage Florida Hispanics to realize their political power and vote.

They also use polls, focus groups and articles about Hispanics posted on a blog and Web site to educate the presidential candidates about how to reach the diverse Hispanic community in Florida — from Cubans in Miami, to Puerto Ricans in Orlando to a blend of Cubans, Puerto Ricans, Mexicans and South Americans in the Tampa area.

South Florida Cuban-Americans have historically leaned heavily toward Republicans, while Central Florida Hispanics lean Democratic. Still, the women acknowledge that Hispanics tend to vote for the person and the issues, not the party.

Hale and Aviles disagree on politics, but say both candidates have a long way to go to reach a population that could swing the presidential election.

For instance, the media and candidates have been focusing on immigration reform. But the forum's polls show that the economy is the top issue for Hispanic voters, with immigration reform ranking 10th on a list of priorities. Other polls reveal that education tops the list among Hispanic voters.

When asked about immigration in a forum focus group, more than 70 percent of Hispanic voters said that securing the border should be the top priority.

Hale says she's tried to get the word to Obama's campaign about the hesitancy that even some Democratic Hispanics have about him because of lingering tension between blacks and Hispanics involving, among other things, competition over jobs.

"What we're saying to them is that Obama is not flying, he's not connecting with (Hispanics)," she said following a voter registration project at the empanada store in Tampa.

Still, a recent AP-Yahoo News poll found Obama leading McCain 47 percent to 22 percent among Hispanic voters with 26 percent undecided.

Among Hispanics, Hillary Clinton beat Obama by large margins in the Democratic primary. Now, some of her Hispanic supporters are undecided about the general election.

Behind the counter at Amigos One Stop Grocery in Tampa, Mari Martinez said she backed Clinton in the primary. But now she doesn't know who to vote for in November. Revealing how much Hispanic votes can shift between parties, she'd also voted for Bill Clinton, Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush.

"Hillary, she went through a lot of stuff and supported her husband 100 percent," said Martinez, originally from Ecuador. "No matter if he was wrong, she protected her guy."

She doesn't know enough about Obama, she says, and doesn't like McCain because she thinks he's too old for the job.

McCain also has a lot of work to do connecting with Hispanics, said Aviles, who is also the area director of the McCain Hispanic Coalition and runs a communications consulting company.

But, she says, the real campaigning has only just started.

Both candidates recently spoke to large national Hispanic leadership groups.

Obama's campaign opened a state headquarters in Ybor City this week, and McCain has satellite offices in Tampa and Orlando.

The women say both candidates need to reach out to Florida's Hispanic communities with personal messages about family, education and the economy, important issues for them. They can't just translate speeches.

Voters want to hear more, too.

"I'm going to talk from a neutral position," said Noel Fernandez, co-owner of Florida Bakery, standing behind a counter of cookies and breads. "Obama will come with change. McCain is the same, the same. But still, I don't know."

The top issue for him is health care, he said. That's why he voted for Hillary Clinton. "She had a good medical plan a long time ago," he said.

Hale said she believes both candidates are trying harder with Hispanics. But sometimes the campaigns reach out to the same people. The Tampa Bay area and the I-4 corridor are a combination of new citizens and Hispanics with decades of roots.

"Tampa Bay has changed a lot in the last 10 years," said Hale, who also heads the Hispanic Alliance of Tampa Bay, which includes 40 organizations.

"If they really want to do a good job, either McCain or Obama, they need to focus and get people in there who truly understand the Hispanic culture," Hale said.

By Saundra Amrhein
St. Pete Times Staff Writer

State May Be Getting A Touch Blue

TAMPA - Is Florida turning blue? Or just slightly bluish? Or even just a less reddish shade of purple?

Florida Democrats contend voter registration figures and recent election results show signs of a shift in the politics of a state dominated for more than a decade by Republicans.

The signs aren't overwhelming - a small but significant uptick in numbers of Democratic voters; a partisan shift in Hispanic voter registration; urban counties including Pinellas turning somewhat more Democratic.

But in a state with a Republican governor and big GOP majorities in the state House, state Senate, elected Cabinet and congressional delegation, any success for Democrats stands out. Those signals are being heard more loudly after the 2006 election, when Democrats made electoral gains in Florida for the first time in more than a decade.

"There could be a strong tide," is the optimistic view of Mark Bubriski, a former spokesman for the Florida Democratic Party who is working for the Barack Obama campaign. "But it's the type of change that doesn't happen overnight."

Baloney, respond the Republicans.

Republicans dominate government in Florida even though they have long trailed Democrats in numbers of registered voters, said state party spokeswoman Erin VanSickle. She noted that Gov. Charlie Crist won in 2006 by 400,000 votes, even though Republicans had 400,000 fewer voters on the rolls than Democrats. "All that matters is what happens on Election Day, and we've shown time and again that Republicans turn out voters at the polls, even when we're down in registration numbers."

University of South Florida political scientist Susan MacManus, an expert on demographic trends in politics, thinks the changes are real - "an example of the cyclical nature of politics," she said. MacManus said the change in registration figures comes partly from younger voters, who are becoming more likely to register Democratic and less likely to register no-party or in minor parties.

"Some of it's driven by the excitement of the primary - the Obama-Hillary race has sped up that process," she said. MacManus said the changes aren't big enough to mean Democrats are sure to win Florida in 2008, "but at least show a party that's on the upswing, not the downswing."

Reagan, Retirees Drove GOP Gains

For Florida Democrats, any glimmer of hope would be welcome. For more than a decade, they've predicted and hoped for a resurgence in every Florida election, only to see Republicans make gains. At one time, Florida was part of the Democratic-dominated Solid South. As late as the mid-1960s, there were four registered Democrats in Florida for every Republican.

GOP-oriented Midwestern retirees and the popularity of Ronald Reagan erased that advantage in the 1970s and '80s. In 1994, Democrats slipped below 50 percent of registered Florida voters, although they remain Florida's largest party. Between 1994 and 1998, Republicans won their first state Legislature majorities in modern history, then their first majority in the state's elected Cabinet, along with the governor's mansion, taking control of state government. They used that power to redraw legislative and congressional district lines to their advantage. With the favorable districts, they reached majorities of about 2-1 in the Legislature and Florida's congressional delegation early in this decade.

For Democrats, it has been an era of unrelieved gloom. The party couldn't raise money or recruit candidates. In 2002, there were more Libertarians than Democrats on the ballot for state House seats. No Democratic presidential candidate has received Florida's electoral votes since 1996, and in three straight elections - 2000, 2002 and 2004 - only one Democrat, U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, managed to win a statewide race.

That era is ending, Democrats say. In 2006, the party made its first electoral gains, small but significant, since 1994. For the first time since 1998, a Democratic candidate who didn't already hold a statewide office won one when Alex Sink of Tampa became state chief financial officer. Democrats also took seven previously Republican state House seats, then added two more in special elections afterward; and won two previously Republican congressional seats. They now hold 14 of the 26 state Senate seats, 43 of 120 state House seats, and nine of the 25 congressional seats. Bad as those numbers are for the Democrats, they are still an improvement.

Democrats Add Voters To Rolls

Meanwhile, voter figures have shown signs of Democratic movement since 2006. For more than a decade, both major parties have declined gradually but steadily in their share of the electorate, as more voters registered no-party or in minor parties. Since the 2006 general election, while Republicans continued that decline, Democrats registered an uptick, from 40.4 percent to 41.2 percent - the first time since at least 1994 that either party hasn't declined in its percentage of total registered voters. As of the end of May, the most recent figures available on the state Division of Elections' Web site, 41.2 percent of Florida voters are Democrats, 37.2 percent are Republicans and 21.6 percent are minor party or no-party.

Steve Schale, a former state Democratic Party strategist who now works for the Obama campaign in Florida, listed other signs:

•In the two years the state has been keeping separate figures on Hispanic voters, Democrats have come from behind to lead Republicans, with 35.5 percent of the state's 1.18 million Hispanic voters, to 35.2 percent. Hispanics are the nation's and Florida's fastest-growing ethnic group.

•The percentage of Democrats is increasing in most of the state's large, urban counties. Democrats recently surpassed Republicans for the first time in Pinellas County, the birthplace of Florida's Republican Party.

•Out of Florida's 120 state House districts, 77 have become more Democratic since 2002, Schale said.

This year, with an unpopular Republican president leaving office, "Our brand is looking better than theirs," he said.

Changes May Be Misleading, GOP Says

Again, Republicans questioned the significance of such figures. Small changes in voter figures can be misleading, they noted, because of purges, when county officials remove inactive voters from the rolls. Registration figures can also be questionable because of Florida's closed primaries, in which only voters registered in a party can participate. Voters often register in a party they don't agree with, simply to be able to vote in the primary.

That has long been the case in North Florida, for example, where Democrats dominate in registered voters, but almost never win statewide or presidential elections.

MacManus agreed that the changes are too small to allow predictions of Democratic wins in Florida in 2008, but she said they could have a long-term effect, particularly if the young people registering Democratic because of Obama see their candidate win. "The first time somebody votes, if their candidate does well, they're likely to stay with that party for a long time," she said.

By WILLIAM MARCH
The Tampa Tribune

Hispanic voters gaining strength in key states

WASHINGTON (AP) — Voting by Hispanics surged in the last congressional elections, showing strength that could swing this year's presidential vote in closely contested states like Colorado, Nevada and New Mexico. A government report released Tuesday shows that 5.6 million Hispanics voted in the 2006 general election, an increase of 18 percent over 2002, the previous year for a federal election without a presidential race on the ballot. That compares to a 7 percent increase among white voters and a 5 percent increase for black voters.

"For years they called the Latinos the sleeping giant. Well, they woke us up," said Luis Vera, general counsel for the League of United Latin American Citizens, or LULAC. Vera said the debate over illegal immigration has energized Hispanic voters, a trend he expects to continue this year.

The presidential candidates are taking notice. Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama both addressed the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials last week and both are scheduled to speak at the LULAC national convention next week.
Hispanics made up only 6 percent of American voters in 2006, according to the report by the Census Bureau. But their numbers are big enough to be decisive in several battleground states, especially in a tight race.

Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico and Florida all have a significant number of Hispanic voters. President Bush narrowly won all four states in 2004, and they could all be hotly contested this year. "When you look at the battleground states, at least four of them are very heavily Hispanic," said Simon Rosenberg, head of a think tank called NDN, formerly the New Democrat Network. "We will see more (campaign) media heaped on Hispanic voters than at any time in American history."

Hispanics, long considered part of the Democratic base, have become swing voters in recent elections. President Bush did well among Hispanic voters in his two presidential victories. But many swung back to the Democrats in 2006, when many Republicans staked out tough positions against illegal immigration. The Democrats regain control of both houses of Congress.

McCain and Obama have both supported comprehensive packages that included an eventual path to citizenship for the estimated 12 million immigrants in the country illegally. McCain, however, now says he would secure the border first.

A recent AP-Yahoo News poll showed that Obama leads McCain among Hispanics, 47 percent to 22 percent with 26 percent undecided.

Still, Obama, who is trying to become the first black president, doesn't have a lock on the Hispanic vote. During the Democratic primary, Hispanics preferred rival Hillary Rodham Clinton to Obama by nearly 2-to-1.

The Census data comes from a national survey which asks 50,000 residents after each federal election whether they were registered to vote and whether they voted. The survey does not ask about candidate preferences or political affiliations. The Associated Press compared voting statistics from the 2006 and 2002 surveys. The 2004 survey was not included because voter turnout in presidential elections is much higher than in the off years.

Voter turnout was up for all racial and ethnic groups in 2006. Overall, 48 percent of voting-age citizens cast a ballot in 2006, the highest percentage in a non-presidential year since 1994, when the Republicans took control of Congress.

Hispanics are the nation's largest and fastest growing minority group, though they have been slow to gain political power nationally because only 60 percent of adult Hispanics are U.S. citizens, according to the Census Bureau. Both political parties, however, see their voting strength growing.

"Just looking at the demographics, whichever party ends up winning the Latino vote will be the majority party in the 21st century," Rosenberg said.

By STEPHEN OHLEMACHER

Conservative Republican Values and the American Hispanic Mind

A large segment of the American Hispanic community has historically shared conservative Republican values, even though today many of them vote Democrat. In fact, a close look at US history demonstrates that Hispanics have traditionally been closer to conservative Republican values than to those of the Democrat Party.

The GOP needs to establish a clear agenda to reach and mobilize these millions of American Hispanics who are not getting the conservative Republican message. Their presence in the party and their vote is critical and it is still today a swing vote up for grabs. Democrats should not assume that American Hispanics are part of their base. But Republicans should understand the need to act quickly. READ MORE

By: Alberto Acereda

Differences between presidential candidates make it hard to predict Hispanic vote

After countless primaries and caucuses, political pundits have some clear indications on how some voters will cast their ballots in November's presidential election if Barack Obama is the Democratic Party candidate and John McCain the Republican.

It is a given that Sen. Obama will get more than 90 percent of the African-American vote. He will be the preferred candidate of the overwhelming majority of white, college-educated voters and those who earn over $100,000 a year. And he will have a hard time getting the vote of white, blue-collar Americans who earn less than $50,000 a year.

Sen. McCain will easily get the vote of those who consider national security the top issue in the campaign and those who don't believe the Illinois senator has enough experience to be commander-in-chief. He has a good chance of attracting many of the white blue-collar Americans who for one reason or another will not vote for Obama. And he will garner an unenthusiastic but nevertheless large number of conservative voters, who even if they don't trust him don't have anywhere else to go.

What so far baffles most pundits is who will get the Hispanic vote. If the Democratic Party candidate had been Sen. Hillary Clinton, she would have been a good bet to win the Hispanic vote by more than a 2-1 margin. There are doubts that Obama can match her numbers, particularly in inner cities where poor black people and poor Hispanics have to battle for the same jobs and often see gangs of each group fight for control of their neighborhood.

Thus in an Obama-McCain race, the Hispanic voter will be harder to determine. Other issues must be considered. Many questions for both parties and candidates remain unanswered, as both Republicans and Democrats in Congress have made so many deplorable choices that make it difficult to say who Hispanics will prefer in November.

Many Republicans in Congress have voiced loudly their opposition to any comprehensive immigration reform bill. Even Sen. McCain has shied away from his early leadership on this issue. He now wants the southern border secured first, before he will even consider any other immigration measures.

Hispanics, particularly Mexican-Americans and Central Americans, are likely to vote for the more immigration-friendly policy of the Democratic candidate. Yet, the question remains, will they remember that McCain has always been a champion of their cause?

These same groups will not be happy with recent Democratic Party decisions in Congress. They will resent all the verbal abuse Mexico took during the Ohio and Pennsylvania primaries and the pledge by both Democratic Party candidates that they will force Mexico, Canada and Central America to renegotiate the free trade agreements already approved and that are in effect. In particular, the North American Free Trade Agreement was approved more than 15 years ago.

Nor will Colombian-Americans, who primarily live in South Florida and New York, applaud the decision by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi to refuse even to consider a free trade agreement with Colombia, this country's best ally in the Western Hemisphere.

As if all of this were not enough, Democrats are refusing to fund a $500 million program to help Mexico fight an increasingly violent war on drugs. Democrats believe less than $200 million will suffice to help Mexico's President Felipe Calderón fight the drug cartels that bring their deadly cargo with impunity to the United States. The AFL-CIO is opposed to any assistance. They are concerned about human rights abuses.

Cuba is still the hot-button issue for many Cuban-Americans. And despite an increase in the registration of Hispanics as Democrats in Florida, the Cuban-American vote will go for McCain.

Of course, none of the above will make much difference if Hispanics vote on the state of the economy, the price of oil and food, or the war in Iraq. All these issues should make this an easy year for Democratic candidates, particularly the one running for president.

But, as with all other groups, segregated and analyzed under a microscope by political scientists, journalists and pundits, all of us have a particular issue that will make us vote one way or the other on Election Day. That is what makes the Hispanic vote so difficult to predict.

By: Guillermo I. Martínez (Columnist/Sun-Sentinel)

Democrats tout shift in Hispanic voting

Democrats are touting their expanding hold on Hispanic voters in Florida, but GOP officials say they will turn Hispanic voters out in force in 2008.

BY BETH REINHARD - Miami Herald - Hispanic voters registered as Democrats have overtaken Hispanic Republicans in Florida, signaling a trend that, if it continues, could have far-reaching implications for the 2008 election and U.S. foreign policy.

Until now, the politically influential, mostly Republican Cuban-American community in Miami-Dade made Florida the only state in the country where, among Hispanics, Republicans outnumbered Democrats.

April voter registration statistics show 418,339 Hispanic Democrats statewide, compared to 415,068 Hispanic Republicans and 345,108 registered with neither party, according to a Florida Democratic Party analysis of state data. The state provides registration data sorted by party and race to the public only in the month before an election.

The growth among Hispanic Democrats is striking. Since January 2006, when the state began identifying voters as Hispanic, Democratic registration has increased 18 percent. Hispanic Republicans grew by only 2 percent, while Hispanic voters choosing neither party are up 14 percent. READ MORE

The trend reflects a fierce competition between the two major parties for the Hispanic vote, which could represent as much as 15 percent of the electorate in 2008. Florida Democrats are touting their expanding influence in the Hispanic community, while GOP officials say their registration and get-out-the-vote drives will be more aggressive than ever this year.

''There are a few states where the Latino vote is going to be critical -- definitely Florida, as well as Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and Nevada -- and those are going to be battleground states in the national scope,'' said Lindsay Daniels, a strategist at the National Council of La Raza, a nonpartisan Hispanic advocacy group.

Both demographic and political shifts are fueling the increase in Hispanic Democrats in Florida.

GENERATIONAL SHIFT

Demographically, the voter registration statistics are the latest sign that immigration from Latin America and younger generations of Cuban Americans are diluting the influence of the older Cuban-American community. Those dedicated voters heavily favored Republican candidates and a hard-line policy toward Cuba. READ MORE

Florida Latinos To Demonstrate in D.C. Over Delegate Flap

WASHINGTON – Latinos from Florida are planning to demonstrate against their state being stripped of its Democratic presidential delegates.

The League of United Latin American Citizens says it is sponsoring protestors from Orlando, Miami, Tampa, Jacksonville and other cities who plan to protest here Wednesday to express their outrage at what they describe as their votes not being counted. The protest is to be held outside Democratic National Committee headquarters here.

“It is a disappointment that Florida has been denied that undeniable right to vote,” said LULAC National President Rosa Rosales, in a statement. “LULAC believes that every vote needs to be counted with Latino votes at stake.”

The group says Florida voters should not be punished because Florida legislators, frustrated by the outsized clout of early-voting states, broke party rules when they moved up the primary in a bid for more influence.

LULAC also will be delivering petitions to the DNC headquarters.

Other organizations participating will include Florida Voters League, University of Central Florida, Florida Demands Representation, Southern Leadership Coalition and local Florida civil rights leaders.

By: Billy House - Media General

Democrats look to local Hispanic leaders in anti-GOP efforts

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats sought Tuesday to tap into their networks of local Hispanic leaders to increase party support and turnout in the effort to deny Republican Sen. John McCain the presidency.

The Democratic National Committee, in announcing its 2008 Hispanic Leadership Council, accused McCain of betraying Hispanics on immigration reform and failing to address critical issues such as the economy in an ad he produced in Spanish in New Mexico.

The council is made up of Hispanic professionals, business owners, activists and community leaders who have given at least $5,000 to the Democratic Party. It's led by Gilberto Ocanas, a Texas-based consultant who has worked on four presidential campaigns, and Ingrid Duran, a Washington consultant and former CEO of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute.

"We shouldn't wait for people to engage us. We should engage our own folks," Ocanas said.

Republican National Committee spokesman Danny Diaz dismissed the criticism and said that McCain, the likely GOP nominee, "has the track record, the judgment and character to address the challenges America faces with all segments of the electorate, including Hispanics."

The GOP already has Hispanic team leaders working every day to get out the Hispanic vote and an advisory board working with the chairman on outreach to the Hispanic community, Diaz said.

"The Democrats may be announcing their effort, but we've been executing ours for 365 days a year," he said.

By SUZANNE GAMBOA - AP

Democrats Outspending Republicans on Spanish-language Advertising

From: Portada Online

As the Democratic nomination process draws on, and each constituency is laser-targeted by the respective campaigns, one thing is clear: All the fuss has been good for Spanish-language media.

While Senator Hillary Clinton has held onto her lead among Hispanic voters, Senator Barack Obama has made it clear that he is not going to concede the Latino vote. In late March, he formed the Hispanic Leadership Council, headed by Former Clinton staffer Frank Sanchez. For his part, presumptive Republican nomine John McCain has also vowed to fight for the Hispanic vote.

So far, the Democrats have already spent $4 million in Hispanic advertising, a sum that already exceeds what was spent in last election’s presidential primary, according to the Hispanic Voter Project at Johns Hopkins University. Although in certain states, the Latinos do not constitute a large percentage of the overall population, this race is so tight that capturing Hispanic support is crucial to victory.

The McCain camp is already talking about an aggressive Hispanic strategy in Ohio for the general election.

Give us a Reason

Angelette Aviles &

Evelyn Hale

Hispanics are considered to be the group that determines who wins the Presidential election. With this fact both parties seem to be pondering how to effectively communicate their message to attract Hispanics.  Republicans say Hispanics are religious, conservative and hardworking and will side with us when it comes to issues such as abortion, family values, and taxes on small businesses.  Democrats say Hispanics are working-class, liberal and hardworking and will side with us over work-site safety, health care and educational opportunities.  

With all the attention given to Hispanics politically then why are we the least likely to vote or register to vote?  Why do Hispanics sway their votes.  We have three answers and one of them is that Hispanics need a reason to vote.  Based on polls and facts one could find that reason and use it to talk to Hispanics about issues dear to their heart.

Try and guess the other two reasons.  Perhaps, we will give you the answer!!