Presidential Race 2008

WASHINGTON, June 9 — Helped by the fight over immigration, Democratic presidential candidates are courting Hispanic voters like never before, prompted by a string of early primaries in states with sizable Hispanic voting blocs.

It has forced candidates to hire outreach consultants, to start Spanish-language Web sites and to 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 holding Democratic primaries or caucuses on or before Feb. 5.

Republican and Democratic strategists, as well as independent analysts, 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 on Thursday to derail an immigration bill in the Senate 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.

Mrs. Clinton is also well known and liked by many Hispanics, with several national New York Times/CBS News polls from the past few months showing that about 60 percent of registered Hispanic voters who identify themselves as Democrats have a favorable view of her, while a quarter do not.

Meanwhile, Senator Barack Obama, Democrat of Illinois, remains a blank slate to many Hispanic voters, polls show, with 40 percent having no opinion of him. But his aspirational biography could prove a draw as more Hispanic voters get to know him.

Former Senator John Edwards is even less well known among Democratic Hispanic voters. While a third have a positive view of Mr. Edwards and fewer than 10 percent have an unfavorable view of him, 6 in 10 are unable to offer an opinion.

The only Hispanic in the race, Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico, a Democrat, is working to build a base and establish a political identity beyond the Southwest.

Many Democrats were as troubled by the Senate immigration bill as were Republicans, but for decidedly different reasons. Mrs. Clinton expressed concerns about the legislation, particularly a provision that makes it harder for legal immigrants in the United States to bring relatives from abroad. Mr. Obama said that he would have supported the bill, but that he too had similar concerns about the provision, according to his aides.

On the Republican side, two of the main candidates, Rudolph W. Giuliani and Mitt Romney, opposed the immigration bill, while Senator John McCain played a main role in drafting the legislation, only to face a huge backlash from conservative Republicans raising alarms about what they call a flood of immigrants.

The bill’s setback — a major defeat for President Bush — could complicate Republican efforts to win over the fast-growing Hispanic electorate and help Democrats solidify their hold on these voters, an electoral prize expected to increase in importance in coming decades. Surveys showed that Hispanics were a small part of the Republican primary vote in 2000, with their greatest influence being in California, where they made up 9 percent of the vote.

The debate over immigration has spurred Hispanic leaders and voters to mobilize like few issues in recent memory have. The National Association of Latino Elected Officials has joined with the Hispanic television network Univision on a national campaign to help Hispanic residents fill out citizenship applications and to help those who are already citizens register to vote.

Stephanie Pillersdorf, a spokeswoman for Univision, said the number of Hispanic residents who had applied for citizenship in Los Angeles County alone had gone up 146 percent since the campaign started several months ago.

The scramble for Hispanic support is evident both within the campaigns and out on the trail.

Read More at Source