Can you believe he said this.....?

In California as in New Hampshire and in other states, Hillary Clinton is very well known. She's known to have the strength and leadership to be president of this country," Villaraigosa told Efe.

"My message is clear. If you're not going to vote, no one can respect you. You should also go vote for those who can't because they're illegals," he said.


Here's the rest of the story......

Latino Pols Stump for Clinton in New Hampshire
January 7, 2008
Paco G. Paz -- EFE
L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa (in an earlier photo) is trying to get Latino votes for Clinton in New Hampshire.

L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa (in an earlier photo) is trying to get Latino votes for Clinton in New Hampshire.

Several Latino leaders have come to New Hampshire to campaign for Sen. Hillary Clinton on the eve of the Democratic presidential primary, as polls show Barack Obama pulling away from the former first lady.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa had no qualms about leaving his city's balmy weather for the freezing temperatures of New Hampshire in order to visit on foot the Latino businesses of the local towns and drum up votes for the New York senator.

Clinton leads the polls nationwide, but trails in New Hampshire behind Sen. Obama who is ahead by 10 points, according to the latest survey released Monday by CNN.

After being practically tied two days ago, the Illinois senator has moved ahead with 39 percent of voter preference compared with Clinton's 29 percent and 20 percent for John Edwards.

To help stop the momentum Obama has built up following his victory last week in the Iowa caucuses, Villaraigosa has stumped associations, churches and businesses to try and raise awareness among the tiny immigrant population of the need to vote in the primaries.

"In California as in New Hampshire and in other states, Hillary Clinton is very well known. She's known to have the strength and leadership to be president of this country," Villaraigosa told Efe.

"My message is clear. If you're not going to vote, no one can respect you. You should also go vote for those who can't because they're illegals," he said.

Villaraigosa's straight talk was spoken to a hairdresser's client in Manchester, where the Latino population is small but growing.

At the end of last year some 6,500 Latinos were counted in the census, which represents a mere 6 percent in the state, much below the national average of 14.8 percent.

The subject of immigration has become one of the main topics of the current electoral campaign, particularly on the Republican side.

In recent days, Arizona Sen. John McCain, who is leading the polls in New Hampshire, has emphasized the need to strengthen the borders and create a guest-worker program to give legal status to the undocumented.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has on several occasions criticized McCain's plans on the grounds that they would provide amnesty for those who entered the country illegally.

For Villaraigosa, the next U.S. president will undoubtedly have to face this problem.

"The truth is that all the Democratic candidates are in favor of fair immigration reform. But Hillary Clinton is the most capable and the one with the greatest experience to tackle this challenge," he said.

Besides getting the Latino vote, the mayor likes to be seen with Clinton in the meetings and forums being held up and down the state.

Here in Nashua, he met with two New York state lawmakers, Jose Rivera and Adriano Espaillat, who have come here with a score of followers to show their support.

"I've known the Clintons since the start of the 90s, when we invited them to talk to the Latino community in the Bronx. At that time Bill Clinton had not even announced his intention to run," Rivera said.

Since then, the lawmaker said, Hillary Clinton has showed "great sensitivity about the problems and the need for sensitivity for the problems of Hispanics."

"She has a wide history of working with Latinos. There's no doubt about that," Rivera said.

The only Hispanic in the presidential contest is New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, who spent his early years in his mother's native Mexico. But the former member of Bill Clinton's Cabinet finished fourth in Iowa and is given little chance of winning the Democratic nomination. EFE