Thread: Latino voters key for Dem rivals in Texas showdown

Latino voters key for Dem rivals in Texas showdownBy Aurelio Rojas / The Sacramento Bee03/02/08 23:48:52
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In the weeks since Latino voters propelled Sen. Hillary Clinton to a nine-point victory over Sen. Barack Obama in California's Democratic presidential primary, Clinton has lost 11 straight primaries and caucuses.

With her campaign on the ropes, the New York senator is counting on Latinos to help her win Tuesday's pivotal presidential contest in Texas.

And she is relying on the same formula that worked for her in California: Hold her own with white voters, particularly women, and close the deal with Latinos.

Both campaigns hope their experience with California's growing Latino electorate will translate into Latino votes in Texas. Both are drawing Latino politicians from the Golden State to help.

For Clinton, the stakes are high.

Even former President Bill Clinton concedes his wife needs to win Texas, the biggest prize among the four states holding presidential contests Tuesday, to keep her hopes alive.

Obama, seeking to become the first black to win a party presidential nomination, has winnowed Clinton's double-digit lead in Texas to a tossup in recent polls.

Both California and Texas are sprawling, border states; each has roughly 2.5 million Latino voters.

Henry Flores, a political science professor at St. Mary's University in San Antonio, said Latinos in California have "more of an urban experience." The migration of Latinos from rural to urban areas in Texas, he said, is a more recent phenomenon.

"The union movement has also been more active in California than in Texas," Flores said. "As a result, Latinos in Texas tend to be more conservative." Once a solidly Democratic state, Texas is now a Republican stronghold.

Exit polls showed Latinos accounted for 30% of the voters in California's Democratic primary. In Texas, where Latinos have an older political heritage, their vote could comprise 40% of the turnout, according to both campaigns.

California Clinton supporters -- notably Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez -- are heading to Texas for a last-minute push. State Sens. Gloria Romero and Gil Cedillo, both D-Los Angeles, will campaign for Obama.

Cedillo backs Obama largely because of their shared support for allowing illegal immigrants to apply for driver's licenses.

The New York senator has been endorsed by Henry Cisneros, a San Antonio native who served as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development in the Clinton administration. But another ex-Clinton Cabinet member, Federico Peña, a Laredo native who ran the Departments of Energy and Transportation, is backing Obama.

According to a Texas A&M/Latino Decisions Poll released Feb. 26, nearly three out of four Latino voters said they plan to vote for Clinton, compared to 22% for Obama.

In California, Latino voters preferred Clinton by a 2-to-1 margin, according to exit polls.

Obama does not have to get the majority of Latino votes to win Texas. But the Illinois senator has to chip away at Clinton's support -- and there are indications he is doing that.

Many Latinos in the state are only beginning to learn Obama's story as an immigrant's son, said Lydia Camarillo, vice president of the San Antonio-based Southwest Voter Registration Education Project.

"In California, Latinos only had a week to get to know Obama because of the tight primary schedule," Camarillo said. "In Texas, a lot of resources have been spent to get his story out." Camarillo said Obama is gaining the votes of young Latinos because of his opposition to the Iraq War. Clinton voted to authorize the invasion.

Camarillo said Obama also has won some Latino voters because of the driver's license issue. Last year, Clinton suggested such a proposal might be reasonable, but quickly backed away from the idea.

Obama can count on strong support from blacks in cities like Dallas and Houston. That support will be amplified under the arcane rules by which Texas Democrats award delegates.

To offset Obama's advantage, Clinton must do extremely well with the Latino voters who dominate large parts of South Texas from El Paso to Brownsville.

Pundits are hesitant to say who will win. But Camarillo said whatever happens, historians will look back on 2008 as the year Latino voters influenced the outcome of the presidential race.

"More than half of the registered Latino voters in the country live in California and Texas," she said. "And they're flexing their muscles."
http://www.fresnobee.com/263/story/435633.html

You know, Latinos vote in the Republican Primaries in Texas too. They are not just a bunch of Liberal Democrats.

Too much is being put on the Hispanic votes in Texas. Sure, they are a large demographic but they are as diverse as the rest of us.

Dixie