NYT: Hispanic Voters Enjoy New Clout With Democrats

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/10/washington/10hispanics.html?hp

Hispanic Voters Enjoy New Clout With Democrats

By RAYMOND HERNANDEZ
Published: June 10, 2007

WASHINGTON, June 9 — Helped by the fight over immigration, Democrats seeking their party’s presidential nomination are moving to court Hispanic voters like never before, as a string of early primary states with sizable Hispanic voting blocs prompt candidates to hire outreach consultants, start Spanish-language Web sites and campaign vigorously before Hispanic audiences.

The battle for Hispanic voters is a result of the decision by several states with large Hispanic populations to move their presidential primaries to early 2008, including California, Florida and New York. Roughly two-thirds of the nation’s Hispanic residents live in nine of the states that will hold Democratic primaries or caucuses on or before Feb. 5.

Strategists say the influence of Hispanic voters is likely to be amplified next year because of an unusually intense response in many Hispanic communities to immigration policy. Conservative Republicans, with the help of some left-leaning Democrats, teamed up to derail an immigration bill in the Senate on Thursday that would have provided a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants.

It is in the new early primary states where Democrats hope the outreach efforts bear fruit. In the last presidential election, Hispanic voters accounted for a significant part of the overall Democratic primary electorate in California (16 percent), New York (11 percent), Arizona (17 percent) and Florida (9 percent), all states that will hold primaries by Feb 5.

Sergio Bendixen, a pollster hired by Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s campaign to study Hispanic voting trends, said: “The Hispanic vote has never been all that important in the presidential primary process in the United States. But that will change in 2008.”

At this early stage, Mrs. Clinton, a New York Democrat, appears best poised to benefit from the heightened Hispanic role in the primary process. She has already captured a prized endorsement, of Mayor Antonio R. Villaraigosa of Los Angeles, one of the nation’s most prominent Hispanic politicians.

FULL story at link.

[sutz12]

1. I guess we convinced them that we won't close all the churches....

That seems to have been the fundie mantra for years now, that the Dems would outlaw religion. :shrug: