Presidential rivals continue courtship of Latino voters

Ads are targeting swing states

Barack Obama addressed thousands of Hispanics yesterday at the National Council of La Raza's convention in San Diego. (Ken Cedeno/Bloomberg News)

SAN DIEGO - Barack Obama and John McCain are aggressively courting Latino voters in the early stages of their election contest, as the presumptive Republican nominee looks to hold onto such Latino-heavy states as New Mexico that Obama hopes to bring into the Democratic fold.

"Make no mistake about it: The Latino community holds this election in its hands," Obama said yesterday at a conference for the National Council of La Raza, one of the nation's largest Latino civil rights groups. "Some of the closest contests this November are going to be in states like Florida, Colorado, Nevada, and New Mexico - states with large Latino populations."

Both face very different tasks. Obama is seeking to solidify his standing among a group that has historically leaned Democratic, whereas McCain is working to convince Latinos that he deserves their support, based on his stance on immigration and experience as a border-state lawmaker.

McCain will address La Raza today, the third time in as many weeks the candidates will have courted Latino activists. They spoke last Tuesday in Washington at a conference of the League of United Latin American Citizens, and last month to the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials.

On Friday, McCain's campaign began running ads appealing to Latinos in Colorado, New Mexico, and Nevada, key states that backed President Bush in 2004 but which Obama hopes to win with a strong Latino turnout. The Democrat is running ads in those states also, but none yet with Latino themes.

"If you have any doubt about whether you can make a difference, just remember how, back in 2004, 40,000 registered Latino voters in New Mexico didn't turn out on Election Day," Obama said. The Illinois senator noted that Democratic candidate John F. Kerry "lost that state by fewer than 6,000 votes - 6,000 votes."

A recent Gallup poll showed Obama leading McCain by 30 percentage points among Latinos, a larger margin than Kerry's 20 points over Bush in 2004 exit polls. But Obama, who lost badly to Hillary Clinton among Hispanics in the Democratic primaries, told reporters, "I'm not as well known in that community as I would like to be."

Yesterday, Obama cast his positions on spending more federal money to expand healthcare, create jobs, and improve education as important for the Latino community as well as other Americans, and discussed his support for creating a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants.

Obama's aides said they plan to start running ads on Spanish-language radio stations next week in key states and will keep them going through November.

McCain's aides acknowledge that the Arizona senator is trailing Obama among Latino voters, but they view this effort as crucial to making inroads so that he may hold onto states such as Florida and Colorado.