Thread: Obama, Clinton, Romney woo Key Hispanic Voters

News
07/22/2007 18:02:26 EST Alan Diaz/AP Photo

Top Democrats Woo Key Hispanic Voters
By LAURA WIDES-MUNOZ
Associated Press Writer

As they competed Sunday to woo Hispanic voters, Hillary Clinton touted her personal connection to the community while Barack Obama emphasized the intertwined struggles of black and Hispanic Americans.

Because their platforms are so similar - both support a path to legalization for illegal immigrants, improved border security and universal health care and preschool - the way Clinton and Obama approach Hispanic voters will probably be key in the primary season.

The candidates spoke before roughly 2,000 Hispanic educators, activists and community and business leaders at the annual conference of the nation's largest Hispanic civil rights organization, the National Council of La Raza, in Miami Beach.

Both received strong ovations but were presented in very different settings.

A relaxed Clinton sat in a turquoise silk jacket for an informal interview with Monica Lozano, publisher of the nation's largest Spanish-language newspaper, during the event's signature Latinas Brunch.

"I told Monica we should talk like we're two girlfriends, and you just can eavesdrop," Clinton joked to the audience.

Asked how her views of Hispanics have been shaped, the New York senator and former first lady recalled registering Hispanic voters in south Texas in 1972.

And she highlighted her close relationships with prominent Hispanics, including Sen. Bob Mendendez, D-N.J.; her campaign manager, Patricia Solis Doyle; and Dolores Huerta, a longtime activist who helped Cesar Chavez organize farmworkers.

"It's not so much reading a briefing book or being handed a policy paper that says this is what you should say when you're in front of an audience of Latinos," Clinton said. "It's who you are and what you believe in."

Clinton ended by bringing out a mariachi band and a cake to celebrate the birthday of one of her campaign chairs, former La Raza president Raul Yzaguirre.

Obama was introduced with his campaign's reggaeton theme song, a genre that blends Latin and hip hop beats. He cut a more formal presence, standing behind a podium in a dark suit and speaking directly to the crowd before taking questions.

He linked the civil rights struggles of blacks and Hispanics by quoting a 1968 telegram the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. sent Cesar Chavez during Chavez's 25-day fast on behalf of farmworkers.

"As brothers in the fight for equality," Obama quoted, "our separate struggles are really one for freedom, dignity and humanity."

That sentiment remains true today, Obama said.

"If there's a child stuck in a crumbling school who graduates without ever learning to read, it doesn't matter if that child is a Latino from Miami or an African-American from Chicago or a white girl from rural Kentucky, she's still our child, and the struggle is our struggle," he told the audience. (Does anyone see what I see? He gives each example a Nationality, except the "white girl".)

The Illinois senator mentioned his work to improve public housing for low-income families in Chicago and his decision to march last year with Hispanic protesters against a stringent immigration bill.

Both candidates promised to push for comprehensive immigration reform during their first year in office. Both stressed their support for legislation to help qualified high school graduates here illegally to attend college and eventually earn U.S. residency.

Clinton said she believed both that bill and one to create a path to citizenship for farmworkers still had a chance to pass the current Congress.

While Democrats are expected to receive the majority of the Hispanic vote, Republicans are not ready to cede the field. On Sunday, Republican hopeful Mitt Romney, who has taken a hard line on immigration, told a crowd of Republican Hispanics that they are "quintessentially American."

Romney, fellow Republican candidates Rudy Giuliani and John McCain, and Democratic candidates John Edwards and Bill Richardson were also invited to the four-day La Raza conference but did not attend.



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I'm telling you.....if either one of them gets to become President....we are in a world of hurting, as they will usher in Socialism!

At this point isn't the democratic ticket basically going to be Billary, Obama or a combo Billary-Obama, Obama-Billary?

If worst comes to worst I'd rather see Obama than Billary. Billary has so many skeletons in her closet she doesn't dare open it!