Thread: McCain: 'SÃ*, WE CAN'

MAC: 'SÃ*, WE CAN'
LOOKS TO BUCK PRO-DEM LATINO TREND
By CARL CAMPANILE
McCain

March 24, 2008 -- Presumptive GOP presidential nominee John McCain - wildly popular in his home state of Arizona, on the Mexican border - has vowed to win a sizable chunk of the crucial Latino vote this fall.

But history is against him.

Typically, about two-thirds of Latinos vote Democratic in a presidential election. And a nationwide Gallup Poll, conducted between March 1 and March 16, confirms that trend.

It shows Barack Obama leading McCain, 60-29 percent, and Hillary Rodham Clinton trouncing McCain, 64-29 percent, with the rest undecided.

"Hispanics are clearly tilting to the Democratic candidates," said Gallup pollster Frank Newport. "The vote could have an impact in key swing states like New Mexico and Florida."

But two Republicans have fared better in recent times. Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush each snared nearly 4 of every 10 Latino votes during his successful re-election bid.

In 2004, Bush even won over a majority of Latino Protestant evangelical voters. Latino Catholics went big for Democrat John Kerry, but Bush's popularity with some Latinos helped push him over the top in Arizona, California, Florida and New Mexico - all of which he carried by less than 5 percent.

Informed of the Gallup figures, the McCain camp noted that he carried the Latino vote in the GOP primaries overall and in California, Florida, New Jersey, New York and Texas.

And spokesman Brian Rogers stressed that McCain has always run strongly among Latinos back home. During his 2004 re-election bid, he carried 70 percent of that vote in the Grand Canyon State.

But now, after two terms of Republican rule under Bush, McCain carries the burden of a souring economy and an unpopular war.

Still, some Latino leaders give him a chance to hold his own - which could be enough.

They point out that McCain bucked his party to back comprehensive immigration reform that would have provided illegal immigrants a "path to citizenship." Conservative critics slammed the plan as "amnesty."

McCain's candidacy nearly collapsed over the controversy, and he now says that the borders must be secured first - but also that illegal immigrants already here should be treated "humanely."

Herman Badillo credits that relatively moderate stance on immigration with helping McCain carry the lion's share of the Latino primary vote.

"McCain was one of the few Republicans to support the Comprehensive Immigration Bill [of 2007]," said Badillo, the first Puerto Rican elected to Congress and former chairman of the City University of New York.

"He didn't scapegoat people. This will help him enormously with the Hispanic community."

carl.campanile@nypost.com

http://tinyurl.com/2wgszf

Since when did only latinos elect the president? I was taught that US citizens are the ones who elect the president. Last I checked US citizens come in all colors. Latinos are also reported as being a minority in this country. Have they become the majority and the lame brained media forgot to report it? Could that be why we have three amnesty supporters as presidential candidates?

That's exactly right and it;s also about time that teh media debunk the myths about "legal" latinos suparssing african- americans as the biggest minority group in the US. Stripping the illegal aliens, legal latinos (citizens and legal immigrants) represent between 30 and 35 million (big maximum) and not 44 million ( that number emanates from US census that does not discrimanate between legal or illegal).

Enough is enough. Latino immigrant needs are not more special than any other immigrant group needs. They are the same - equal access to the American Dream, period, and not some special treatment that includes more spanish language. I am terribly sorry to be so brutal and bombastic but again enough!

Racist politics.

W