Latinos' growing clout has seized candidates' notice

Latinos' growing clout has seized candidates' notice
By Christi Parsons
Copyright © 2007, Chicago Tribune
Published July 8, 2007


WASHINGTON—Until this summer, the cooks, waiters and housekeepers of Las Vegas usually didn't see many contenders for the White House until well into an election season.

These days, though, members of the Culinary Workers Union are entertaining repeat visits from Democratic candidates. Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) lyrically praised the role of service workers at the group's recent rally. Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) promised to walk a picket line with them.

The scrupulous attention is testament to the rising influence of Latino voters, who make up almost half of the union's membership of 60,000, as well as almost 9 percent of Nevada's electorate.

That means the local's members could help choose the party's nominee in Nevada in its new role as an early-caucus state, and activists are trying to make the most of the opportunity.

"Our bread-and-butter working-class issues are going to get a good hearing in this election cycle," said Pilar Weiss, the Local 226 political director in Las Vegas helping organize the endorsement process.

The culinary workers aren't the only ones getting extra attention this summer, as candidates of both parties jockey for position in their runs for the White House. The increased foot traffic at the union events comes at a time when Latino voters around the country are poised to exercise unprecedented influence in the selection of the party nominees.

Latino voters increased their numbers by more than a third in the past decade and constituted more than 8 percent of the nation's eligible voters in 2006. Recent changes in the election calendar could give even greater voice to Hispanic voters in the 2008 presidential contest.

Several states with heavy Latino populations—Illinois, New York and California included—are moving their primaries and caucuses from later in the year to February. That means the vast majority of the country's Hispanic voters, galvanized by the recent national debate over immigration reform, will likely get to cast a primary vote while the contest for the nomination is still in play.

'An incredible difference'
"The Latino community is poised to make the most significant impact it has ever made in the history of this country," said Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.). "If people use the power they have, it will make an incredible difference not just in the election but in the lives of people."

Latino leaders aren't the only ones who recognize the potential. Presidential candidates from both parties are reaching out to the community for endorsements, contributions and volunteers.

Clinton has hired several staffers to work on Latino outreach. Leading her team is campaign manager Patti Solis Doyle, the daughter of Mexican immigrants and a native of Chicago's Pilsen neighborhood.

Democrat John Edwards, the former senator form North Carolina, is one of several candidates whose Web sites offer visitors the opportunity to read in Spanish. Also concentrating heavily on Latino audiences is Democratic New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, a fluent Spanish speaker whose mother is Mexican.

In the Obama camp, a group of staffers from several departments meets weekly to talk about outreach to the Hispanic community. Obama has been conducting interviews with Spanish-language radio and TV stations, as well as with the newspapers El Mundo and El Tiempo, and his supporters in heavily Latino communities distribute bilingual literature. He has been heavily courting unions like the Culinary Workers in Nevada.

Republicans also are reaching out to Hispanic voters. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has run Spanish-language radio ads in Florida, where former state GOP Chairman Al Cardenas, a Cuban-American, is a high-profile supporter.

Sen. John McCain of Arizona has been speaking to Latino audiences and called on some of his Spanish-speaking Republican colleagues to act as surrogates for him at campaign events. Among the Republican candidates, McCain was the only open champion of the Senate's recently failed immigration reform bill, which would have created a pathway to citizenship for millions of immigrants now living in the country illegally.

Potential backlash
Many Latino activists were infuriated by the failure of that measure and, days later, only one of the Republican presidential candidates accepted a recent invitation to speak to the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials.

Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) gave a solo address to the group, challenging the idea that all Latino voters are angry about the immigration bill's failure. Although group leaders gave him credit for showing up, many audience members said afterward that they disagreed with his advocacy for tougher border security.

Still, many Republican strategists insist that segments of the Latino community will vote Republican. By some accounts, roughly 40 percent of Latino voters supported President Bush for re-election in 2004, reflecting what GOP partisans say is a social and religious conservatism that runs deep within some parts of the community.

"The analysis on this question has really been oversimplified," said Kevin Madden, a spokesman for Romney. "Latino voters are not single-issue voters. They care about the economy, about the future of education in this country, about traditional marriage and a respect for the sanctity of life. We think these things resonate with those voters."

But Democrats believe the immigration debate is attracting Latino citizens to the Democratic camp, partly because, they believe, the rhetoric of the recent debate had an anti-Latino overtone.

"Immigrants are our neighbors, and they're part of our communities whether they're here legally or not," said Rep. Luis Gutierrez, an Illinois Democrat. "The tone of the debate made Latinos feel like this was about them personally."

Illinois impact?
He said he believes that message struck home in Chicago, where the metropolitan area is home to the country's third-largest Hispanic population. Latino voters make up more than 5 percent of the electorate in Illinois, and they wield considerable influence in Democratic primaries.

But Gutierrez also thinks that message resonated across the country and is energizing Latino voters to organize and get involved in the selection of their leaders all the way down the ballot.

At the recent Latino elected officials' conference in Florida, Democratic officials from throughout the country echoed the sentiment.

"The immigration issue has caught the imagination of Latino voters," said Rafael Anchia, chairman of the group's educational fund and a Democrat in the Texas Legislature. "They are focused on it, and it is serving as a rally cry for the next election cycle."

cparsons@tribune.com