Buena suerte, mis amigos.

Ahora es el tiempo por una gente, sin diferencias de color o de historia.

(Please forgive me, as I'm quite out of practice.  I learned Spanish as a gringo kid in Puerto Rico in the early 90's)

so I can't say anything other than 'gracias' to you.  for posting this.

Polling is starting to show that Obama is wooing over the hispanic community.  And he is learning to speak spanish (I saw a Puerto Rico ad of him speaking it).  It won't be as easy for him as it would have been for Sen. Clinton, but I think Obama can do better than Kerry among Hispanics, especially if he as strong advocates like Sen. Clinton and Gov. Richardson helping him.

Recced.

Almost anyone should do better than Kerry...at least I hope so.

I think Obama will get some of the vote, but not the large numbers that Clinton would have gotten.  Especially now.

Gracias y much gusto

obama has a serious latino problem.  mccain has a great record with immigration, while obama has none.  there is a legitimate brown/black tension in this country that has manifestations in how we vote.  it's sad. but obama's done nothing to address the distrust latinos have with black-american leadership.  

also, the democratic party has been oblivious to latinos in the primary.  donna brazile went so far as to call 'hispanics' not part of the new democratic party on cnn.  she may get her prediction when they defect in significant numbers to mccain and obama's southwest strategy is seriously affected because of it.  

I think we make a big mistake by lumping all "Hispanics" into a single category. There's very little common ground between a Cuban-American in Miami who came over on the Mariel boatlift, a second-generation Puerto Rican or Dominican-American in New York City and a first-generation Mexican-American in California or Arizona.

There are also a lot of new, small Hispanic communities popping up all over the midwest. Would you believe there are now significant Spanish-speaking populations in many corners of rural Iowa, and even Minnesota?

All of these voters (with the exception of the Miami Cubans, but even that's changing) are natural Democrats if we approach them right, but it takes some very intelligent strategy and some very specific targeting.

(That's happening already, BTW - look at the reception Obama received from the Miami Cuban community last week after he approached them with a more sensible approach to their concerns than the "no trade with Cuba, no visits, no sending family money" Bush Administration approach.)

ok. specifically, mexican americans in southwest will mostly vote for mccain.  i believe mccain's long time immigration advocacy is a profound issue in the community and will be defining in november.

cubans will vote for mccain - because of the obama's stand on castro.  and on a symbolic level, obama's use of che poster, etc. in his campaign is deeply offensive to cuban americans. so i believe is seriously comprimised.

the question is left on how the puerto ricans will vote?  i guess we'll find out in the next few days.

obama has a latino problem that is deeper than anybody, even within his campaign it seems, realizes.

Surprised this is news to the gringos, but hey, you just like our food and shit.

South Texas has been firmly Democratic since they started keeping records.