"A Republican probably can't win without about 40 percent, minimum, of the Hispanic vote..."
"A Republican probably can't win without about 40 percent, minimum, of the Hispanic and Latino vote," says Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia's Center for Politics and a well-respected election prognosticator. Sabato adds that the 2008 GOP nominee, Sen. John McCain of Arizona, tallied only about 31 percent support from this voting bloc in his loss to Obama.
http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2012/01/05/immigration-a-tough-issue-for-mitt-romney
The question facing Democratic and Republican strategists alike is how gracefully Romney can perform the age-old pirouette from party primary, where one must pander to the base, to the general election, where one must pander to the center.
"He is leaving Iowa with significant primary baggage that will weigh him down in the general election," she (Democratic National Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz) said, according to her prepared statement.
But experts do point to one issue where a position Romney took in the GOP primary may hurt him in the general election, and that's immigration. The former governor took one of the most conservative positions of any of the Republican candidates when he said all immigrants currently in the United States illegally--estimated to total more than 10 million--should have to return to their home countries before applying for U.S. citizenship.
As with many issues, Romney's stance on immigration during this election seems to differ from positions he's taken in the past. In 2006, while governor, Romney had said, "I don't believe in rounding up 11 million people and forcing them at gunpoint from our country."
If Mitt is going to do the "piroutte" referred to in the article and somehow appeal to Hispanics, he will have to show some ballet skills that are rare among politicians. 
= new reply since forum marked as read
