Democrats Rush to Woo Latino Voters

Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama yesterday launched their battles for the Latino vote, recognizing the influence of the country's fastest growing community.

Last night's scheduled Democratic debate in Las Vegas, held as results from the Michigan Republican primary came in, took the competition for votes in Nevada to a new intensity. The state holds its caucus on Saturday, and with only limited polling so far, defies efforts at prediction.

A poll of 500 likely caucus-goers for the Reno Gazette-Journal on Monday showed a very narrow lead for Obama over Clinton with John Edwards close behind. It was a dead heat in statistical terms. However, it reflects a gradual erosion of Clinton's double-digit leads over Obama last autumn.

On the Republican side, where Saturday's caucus has been overshadowed by the party's primary in South Carolina, John McCain, Rudy Giuliani, and Mike Huckabee had the top three slots.

Latinos make up more than 20% of Nevada's population. Commentators said yesterday that posed a challenge for Obama because of historic rivalry between Latinos and African-American groups.

However, Obama argues he has worked with Latino groups as an organizer in Chicago and on the campaign trail he has neatly adopted the classic farmworkers' slogan "Si se puede", or "Yes we can."

Clinton, meanwhile, has been campaigning with the farm workers' organizer, Dolores Huerta, as well as the local rising Latino political star, Ruben Kihuen.

The campaigns also hope to use Nevada as a testing ground for their economic programs before the Super Tuesday contests on February 5. The state is the hardest hit by the subprime mortgage crisis.

"It's a state that in some ways is on the cutting edge. The problems it is having are problems that many other larger states are having, particularly across the Sun Belt," said Rhodes Cook, who publishes a respected political newsletter. "So I think it will be a first big testing of the economic issues in this type of setting."

Edwards had hoped the state would prove receptive to his message of economic populism. But after the state's biggest union representing hotel workers endorsed Obama, Edwards has focused his resources on his native South Carolina.

What happens in Nevada could be crucial to each candidate's prospects in the Super Tuesday contest as well as the presidential elections next November.

By election day, Latinos are expected to make up 9% of America's population. About 57% of registered Latino voters call themselves Democrats, according to a report from the Pew Hispanic Center.

Latinos are also becoming better organized at turning their numbers into political influence. Last year, Kihuen, 27, become the youngest member of the Nevada state assembly - in part by managing to triple turnout from Latino voters during his primary challenge against a Democratic incumbent. He campaigned with Clinton this week, though he told National Public Radio he had been courted heavily by all three Democratic front runners. "I had calls from Barack Obama, Senator Clinton, John Edwards, Bill Richardson," he said.

The new competition for Latino votes could also keep the lid on an ugly row over race, after Clinton and Obama declared a formal truce on Monday.

"We're all Democrats. We all believe in civil rights. We all believe in equal rights," Obama said. Clinton for her part called on the parties to seek "common ground".

However, the specter of further divisiveness and even violence continued. In an appearance in Atlanta on Sunday, Michelle Obama acknowledged that her husband's race for the White House could make him a target for white supremacist assassins. "There are still voices, even within our own community, that focus on what might go wrong," she said.