Latinos vital for McCain, allies say

Angelette Aviles, a Tampa organizer for John McCain and member of the Republican Party of Florida’s Hispanic Leadership Council, didn’t mince words when she called GOP headquarters last week:

“Are you guys freaking doing something?”

McCain is counting on support from Hispanic voters to help him carry Florida and other swing states in November.

But recent developments have been alarming to supporters like Aviles of Tampa.

A Quinnipiac University poll released last week found that Hispanic voters in Florida prefer Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama over McCain by 56 percent to 36 percent. A recent study by the Pew Hispanic Center showed Obama with a more than 2-1 lead over McCain among Hispanic voters nationwide. And last week, Obama and the Democratic National Committee sought to solidify that support by announcing the most expensive Hispanic outreach effort in presidential campaign history.

The Obama campaign aims to raise $20 million and target much of that in four swing states where the Hispanic vote is expected to be large enough to decide the November election: Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico and Florida. Tampa businessman Frank Sanchez, who is charged with raising the money for Obama’s campaign, largely from Hispanic voters, promised a blitz.

“Everything from television and radio and print and all that, to organizing volunteers to go door to door,” Sanchez said, adding that this year

Latinos are “participating in every aspect of political campaigns, and that includes fundraising.”

Hispanic voters are viewed as one of the most powerful voting blocs in this year’s election. More than 9 million Hispanic voters nationwide are expected to go to the polls in November, an estimated 1.7 million more than in 2004.

The Hispanic vote in Florida, where 27 electoral votes are the big prize, is also more in play this election.

More than 100,000 Hispanic voters have registered with no party affiliation in Florida since 2004. And registered Hispanic Democrats outnumbered registered Hispanic Republicans in Florida this year for the first time, according to the state Democratic Party.

“This is where we want to be,” said Arturo Vargas, executive director of the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials. “We want to be in a place where candidates understand that they can’t ignore Latinos.”

Florida’s Hispanic population has changed in other ways, too, since 2004. Most notably there has been an influx of Puerto Rican voters in the Orlando area.

Orlando’s Hispanic voters have traditionally supported Democrats, but Republicans see an opening in winning over newly registered voters.

In South Florida, as the sentiment among historically Republican Cuban-American voters in Miami is changing, so too has the area seen a boom in South American residents who are more up for grabs politically.

Obama has seized on the opportunity for votes in that region, softening on traditional hard-line U.S.-Cuba policy and spending time campaigning and raising money there. And McCain is trying reach out to Orlando’s Hispanic voters as evidenced by his campaign stop last week at a Puerto Rican restaurant there.

McCain’s campaign brushed off the Democrats’ $20 million promise for Hispanic outreach, saying it shows how much work Obama has to do in introducing himself to Hispanic voters who are already familiar with McCain.

McCain’s supporters point to his work on immigration as a senator from Arizona, which at the time was well-received among Hispanics. They also note that McCain campaigned heavily in Florida during the Republican primary and won the Hispanic vote. McCain also has the support of Florida’s popular governor, Charlie Crist, who won over Hispanic voters during the 2006 election.

But organizers such as Aviles say there are reasons to be concerned.

Recent polls show the key issues among Hispanic voters are the economy, education, jobs and health care — over immigration. And Aviles believes McCain’s support for school choice and incentives for businesses appeal to Hispanics.

Yet she worries that McCain is not highlighting those issues enough. She also fears that the campaign is not branching out enough from traditional Hispanic outreach in Florida.

“About a month ago McCain was playing radio ads in Miami about the Castro regime,” Aviles said. “It’s like, ‘We’re not all Cuban,’ and I think even the new wave of Cubans are like, ‘You know, I don’t care what’s going on over there. Talk to me about education, talk to me about the war.’ ”