Hispanics Democratic in primaries, GOP alienating?
by Mark Silva

Hispanic voters have turned out in force for Democratic candidates for president in the primary elections this year, an advocacy group notes -- with a warning that the Republican Party's anti-immigraition faction is posing a problem for the party's nominee.

The irony of that statement, of course, is that Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, was among the most fervent supporters of a "comprehensive'' solution to the illegal immigration problem that includes enabling undocumented workers already living in the United States to seek a path to citizenship. And McCain's stance has caused him problems among that conservative faction in his party that opposes any "amnesty.''

"So far this year, 78 percent of Hispanics who have voted in presidential election contests have voted Democratic,'' says Andres Ramires, vice president for Hispanic Programs at the New Democrat Network. And their numbers have accounted for 15 percent of the overall vote in 2008, their studies have found, up from nine percent in 2004.

"These results are just the latest in a long line of evidence indicating that the anti-immigrant stance of the GOP, first adopted in late 2005, has turned the Hispanic community against Republicans and has encouraged them to vote in unprecedented numbers,'' he says.

"These developments pose serious problems for John McCain and his party in 2008,'' he continues.

McCain has found himself speaking more about border security lately, yet he holds to the view that he voices in an interview that will air Sunday night on CBS News' 60 Minutes: "I think some millions… if they complied with some very stringent and rigid requirements, they could find themselves on a path to citizenship.â€