Silverio “Silver” Salazar has been an active Democrat for decades, just like his cousins, U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar and U.S. Rep. John Salazar.

But for the 2008 presidential election, Silver Salazar is squarely behind John McCain.

Silver Salazar, who had served as a Pueblo precinct leader for 20 years, was a Hillary Clinton backer. So when Barack Obama clinched the Democratic nomination, he began to research McCain and liked what he read.

He chose McCain because of his experience and readiness to take office.

Now, Silver Salazar is working to convince Democrats and Hispanics to support the GOP nominee.

“I’m making history for myself,” said the 59-year-old retired steel company operations manager. “This is the first I’ll vote for a Republican president - or work for one.”

Silver Salazar has been publicly supporting McCain since early summer. He’s done national media interviews and attended campaign visits across Colorado. On Thursday, he spoke at a news conference in Pueblo with other Hispanics supporting McCain.

About a dozen Hispanic McCain backers also held a press conference in Denver.

Hispanics across Colorado and the U.S. typically vote Democratic. But President Bush took an estimated 40 percent of the Hispanic vote in 2004, up from 34 percent in 2000.

A recent Rocky Mountain News/CBS4 News poll of Colorado voters found that 57 percent of Hispanics support Obama and 36 percent back McCain. The poll of 500 registered voters was taken Aug. 11 through 13 by Public Opinion Strategies and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.38 percentage points.

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A coalition of Hispanic groups offered its recommendations for both party’s platforms Thursday, including calls to end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

According to John Trasvina, the chairman of the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda, 26 of the group’s recommendations are already in the Democratic National Committee’s draft platform.

In explaining his group’s war opposition, Trasvina said that Latinos “are overrepresented in the military; many are immigrants who are fighting for our country before it becomes their country.”

The 24-member coalition includes the National Council of La Raza, MANA, the Cuban American National Council and the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement.

The coalition is pressing the Republican National Committee platform writers as well, Trasvina said, and its members will attend both party conventions.

The Hispanic platform makes more than 100 recommendations on education, civil rights, immigration, the economy, health and government accountability. Among them:

_ Publicize the Census Bureau’s confidentiality policy so that Latinos — whether legal immigrants or not — will cooperate in the 2010 census.

_ Grant citizenship to the country’s 12 million undocumented workers.

_ Increase Hispanic participation in the federal work force.

_ Enhance health-care access for immigrants, especially along the U.S.-Mexico border.

_Continue No Child Left Behind with more emphasis on Latino students.

The coalition recommended that No Child Left Behind be used to combat the high dropout rates among Latino high school students. “Our 20-20 vision starts today, and that is that we will close our drop-out rate,” Trasvina said at the press briefing.

Both political parties have been courting Latinos, who participated strongly in the primaries, said Susan Minushkin, the deputy director of the Pew Hispanic Center, a nonpartisan research group in Washington.

Colorado, Florida, Nevada and New Mexico, where the 2004 presidential election was close, have large Hispanic populations, making them hot spots again this election, Minushkin said.

“I would say this year there is much more of an interest in the Latino vote than there has been ever in the past,” Trasvina said. “The community is larger and in more states, and the voting participation is higher than it’s ever been. I think this year there will be more consequences if the Latino vote and the Latino leaders are not listened to.”

However, Andy Gomez, assistant provost at the University of Miami and senior fellow at the university’s Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies, cautioned against assuming that Latinos — especially in the second- and third-generation — vote solely on the kinds of issues listed in the coalition’s report.

“The Hispanic community is looking to see which is the particular candidate that first and foremost addresses the immediate needs of the United States,” Gomez said in an interview.

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In an exclusive interview with La Opinión Wednesday, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said the Latino community “can trust” him to implement comprehensive immigration reform during his first year as president. He pledged that his administration would be “more inclusive and compassionate” than John McCain’s. He recognized that the “Latino community has been severely affected by the current economic crisis,” and said that he will “work very hard” for them. He mentioned that he was one of the few senators to march in sympathy with laborers on May Day (May 1), and said he plans to offer three times more tax cuts to working families than John McCain. Obama also affirmed his plan for a “very solid relationship” with Latin America. He emphasized that his concerns are not “only military or drug related,” but that he wants “people to prosper” and help “alleviate poverty.”

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Ramona “Monchi” De La Paz Torres wants to see that U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton gets the respect she deserves at the Democratic National Convention in Denver.

“I’m going to stick to Hillary to the end,” said De La Paz Torres, who lives in Central El Paso.

She’s one of 10 El Paso Democrats who will be delegates at the convention Aug. 25-28. Six delegates are supporting Clinton, and four are supporting presumed nominee U.S. Sen. Barack Obama.

El Paso also has two superdelegates: U.S. Rep. Silvestre Reyes, a former Clinton supporter who has pledged to Obama, and Democratic National Committeewoman Norma Fisher Flores, who remains pledged to Clinton.

The division among the El Paso Democrats and the ferocious support some Clinton supporters feel for their candidate represent a microcosm of what experts said will be Obama’s biggest challenge at the convention.

“You absolutely have to have a party that is demonstrably united behind its nominee, Barack Obama, or you will have lost that opportunity É for the party to make its case about Obama,” said Cal Jillson, political science professor at Southern Methodist University.

While conventions long ago were scenes of electoral and political fights where the party’s nominee was chosen, in recent decades the events have served more as celebratory coronations as the fall election season begins.

Nominees are typically already clearly chosen during the primary elections, and the convention has been a time for the party to talk about issues and show support for its presidential candidate.

But this year, a significant amount of time at the convention will be devoted to Clinton. The New York senator’s supporters are planning a march and two days of festivities in her honor. Both she and former President Clinton will be featured speakers at the convention, and the campaigns agreed this week to put her name into the official nominations process, allowing her supporters a last chance to display their devotion.

Though it’s virtually impossible that Clinton would actually win the nomination, University of Texas at El Paso political science Professor Greg Rocha said, the Obama campaign and the Democratic Party hope allowing the vote will foster unity.

“The Obama camp hopes this is a way for the Clinton folks to just show their support for her É and make this the last hoorah so they can then coalesce around him,” Rocha said

De La Paz Torres said she was most excited about hearing speeches from the Clintons at the convention.

“She is such a beautiful person and intelligent, and I respect her so much,” she said.

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Author: Pepe Lozano

There is no doubt about it. Nov. 4 could ultimately change the face of American politics and its Latino voters who will arguably make the difference. Latinos are expected to make voter history as one of the most important electoral constituencies throughout the country. And it’s no surprise that Latino voters will make a huge impact in the likelihood of electing the first U.S. African American president.

In a recent poll by the nationwide Pew Hispanic Center Latinos are overwhelmingly supporting Sen. Barack Obama for president at 66 percent over Sen. John McCain at 23 percent.

Latino voters remain an important bloc to both the Republican and Democratic camps numbering at 15 percent of the total U.S. population and representing 9 percent of the eligible electorate. Latinos are the fastest-growing minority group in the country.

The presidential candidates are both seeking to make Florida, New Mexico, Colorado, and Nevada important battleground states where they plan to reach out to Latino voters. Obama said he plans to spend $20 million targeting and mobilizing Latino voters in all 50 states but will favor the four battleground areas.

Although Hillary Clinton won the majority of the Latino vote during the Democratic primaries, the new poll dismisses the charge that Latinos were unwilling to vote for a Black presidential candidate.

According to the report, which surveyed over 2,000 Latino adults of which 892 are registered voters, Obama is rated favorably by 76 percent compared to McCain at 44 percent. President Bush scored a 27 percent approval rate. Clinton’s rating among Latino registered voters remains high at 73 percent favorable. Latino voters supporting McCain represent a smaller percentage today than those who supported Bush in 2004.

But despite what many speculated about Latino voters for Obama, more than three-quarters of Latinos who said they voted for Clinton during the primaries now say they are inclined to vote for Obama next November, while just 8 percent say they will pull for McCain.

In other words Obama today is gaining more and more popular support from Latino voters than those who originally sided with Clinton during the primaries. What is also interesting is the poll sees Obama doing better among Latinos who supported Clinton than he is among non-Latino white Clinton supporters, 70 percent of whom say they will now support Obama while 18 percent say they vote for McCain. Yet still the numbers prove the majority of Clinton supporters both Latino and white are making massive strides to ensure their support increases the chance for an Obama victory.

Education, the cost of living, jobs and health care, in this order, were ranked the most pressing issues facing Latino voters nationwide. Crime, the Iraq war and immigration are not far behind. Obama is strongly favored over McCain to tackle these issues ranging from three-to-one except for Iraq and crime where he is still favored two-to-one.

Latinos have historically supported Democratic candidates but in the last two years their support for the Democratic camp has increased significantly. Some 65 percent of Latino registered voters now say they identify with or lean toward the Democratic Party, compared with just 26 percent with the Republicans. The 39-percentage point difference is the largest gap in ten years among Latino voters who now favor Democrats over Republicans. In 2006 the partisan gap was just 21 percentage points.

Among general registered voters a CNN poll shows Obama (47 percent) holding a 6 point lead over McCain (41 percent).

The historic possibility of electing the country’s first African American president along with confronting major issues such as an economy in crisis, rising gas and food prices, the war in Iraq, health care and education has energized many new and young voters to become fully engaged in record numbers. Some 70 percent feel the country is headed in the wrong direction under Bush.

Despite many who would like to see unity crumble between Latinos and African Americans, both communities share a lot in common. Many working class white workers have much to gain too in supporting multi-racial coalitions around Obama’s campaign.
In fact the anti-racist majority surrounding Obama’s candidacy highlights how far the U.S. has come given the progressive history of the labor movement, the civil-rights era, the peace movement and the rights of undocumented workers.

Addressing the National Council of La Raza’s national conference last July Obama said the current system is not working when the public school system is crumbling, high unemployment rates continue to rise and when 12 million undocumented immigrants have to live in hiding.

Obama stressed his campaign is about correcting the problem of working women who can’t find affordable health care or after-school programs for their children and about fighting for a living wage that fights for equal pay for equal work with guaranteed benefits.

“I will be a president who stands with you, and fights for you, and walks with you every step of the way,” said Obama. “When the system isn’t working, people who love this country can come together to change it. That is the history of the Hispanic community in America. From fighting to desegregate our schools and neighborhoods, to organizing farm workers, and to standing up for the rights of immigrants.”

“Make no mistake about it: the Latino community holds this election in your hands,” said Obama.

At a recent gathering of the League of United Latin American Citizens in Washington, Obama told the audience that many of them marched for immigrant rights and he assured them he would make the issue a major priority.

“That was the time to march,” he said. “Now is the time to vote.”

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There are not likely to be any huge surprises in November — no hanging chads, no landslides, no Truman upsets. The two presidential candidates are close in the polls, meaning we could have again, as in 2000 and nearly again in 2004, a minority president, but given our electoral system and political polarization, that would be no surprise.

This election, like the past two, will come down to a handful of states. What will make it unique is the Latino vote, ready to explode. Because of the rapidly growing Latino population — Latinos account for half the U.S. population growth this century — we’ve thought Latinos would make the difference in previous elections, but it didn’t happen. Here’s why:

According to U.S. Census data, only 17 percent of all Latinos voted in 2004, compared with 51 percent of all whites and 39 percent of all blacks. True, a higher percentage of Latinos was either under 18 or not U.S. citizens, but, in addition, a lower percentage of eligible Latino voters turned out. Only 47 percent of eligible Latinos voted in 2004, compared with 60 percent of blacks and 67 percent of whites.

Latinos have been largely self-disenfranchised in recent elections. Too many haven’t registered to vote, and, if registered, haven’t voted.

Only 7.5 million Latinos voted in the 2004 election (out of a total population of 46 million), but as low as their vote has been, it’s been rising, and Latino organizations promise a spectacular increase this year. Between the presidential elections of 1988 and 2004, the Latino vote doubled. The goal this year is to increase it by nearly 50 percent over 2004 — to 10 million voters.

If delivered, the significance of the increase will not be in total votes, but where they are cast. Latinos make up a large bloc of voters in four key states that George W. Bush carried by fewer than 5 percentage points in 2004. They comprise 37 percent of the eligible electorate in New Mexico, 14 percent in Florida, 12 percent in Colorado and 12 percent in Nevada.

In 2004, Bush won 40 percent of the Latino vote, a five percent increase from 2000. He did better among Latino voters than previous Republican candidates (Bob Dole won 22 percent in 1996), largely because he won nearly half the Latino vote in his home state of Texas, home to 19 percent of the nation’s Latinos.

Republican candidate John McCain, of Arizona, won’t have the Texas advantage, and the latest polls show McCain trailing Barack Obama among Latino voters by a crushing 66 to 23 percent, according to the Pew Research Center. By 41 to 14 percent Latinos say Democrats are doing a better job of dealing with illegal immigration, and by 44 to 8 percent Latinos say Democrats are the party with more concern for Latinos.

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DALLAS - Are Hispanic evangelicals a key swing vote in this U.S. presidential election?

Their possible role in the outcome of the Nov. 4 contest between Democratic candidate Barack Obama and Republican John McCain will be the focus of a conference in Vanguard, California, Thursday and Friday organized by the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference (NHCLC).

Religion plays a big role in American politics, and the evangelical community, which accounts for about one in four U.S. adults, is regarded as a key “battleground faith.”
U.S. President George W. Bush made significant in-roads into the Latino vote in 2004, garnering about 40 percent of it by some estimates, thanks in part to the support of Hispanic evangelicals.

But a poll last month by the Pew Hispanic Center found that Obama had the support of 66 percent of registered Hispanic voters versus 23 percent for McCain.

Latino numbers in the United States are put at about 45 million, or 15 percent of the population. But many are not citizens and they not tend to vote in energetic numbers.
One estimate last year by the Pew Hispanic Center found that, based on past trends, they would probably only comprise about 6.5 percent of the overall turnout this year.
And of the 45 million U.S. Latinos, only about a third are believed to be evangelical (an estimate that includes some charismatic Catholics).

But NHCLC President Samuel Rodriguez told me that their numbers are concentrated in key swing states that could go either way in November like Colorado, New Mexico and Florida.

So in a close election they could be a key vote in both battleground states and battleground faiths.

“Hispanic evangelicals are the quintessential moderates and centrists. They are committed to a prolife agenda and preserving traditional marriage. But they are also committed to tackling global warming and other social justice issues such as poverty and immigration reform,” Rodriguez said.

That puts them in line with the emerging evangelical centrist movement, which is seeking a broader agenda that includes but moves beyond abortion and gay rights issues. It also mirrors Catholic social teaching (a tradition which many Hispanic evangelicals would have grown up in).

This outlook provides windows of opportunity for both candidates.

McCain can appeal to this crowd with his opposition to abortion rights and talk of action on climate change, though the hardening of his views on immigration reform are probably not a winner here.

Obama, on the other hand, talks easily about issues of faith and poverty and his own personal spirituality.

It all makes for an interesting group to watch over the next three months.

The conference is called “Hispanic Evangelicals and the 2008 Elections.”

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Presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama are fighting tooth and nail for Colorado, and the state’s Latino population may be the key to unlock and win the presidency. McCain and Obama both have been to the Centennial State several times recently. Polls suggest nearly a dead-heat in the state, with McCain carrying a slight lead in a state that voted for anyone ever named George Bush or Republican with the exception of 1992, when the state went to Bill Clinton. The last time Weld County voted for a Democrat for president was in 1964, when Lyndon B. Johnson beat Barry Goldwater.

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2008 The Associated Press

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has tapped San Antonio attorney Juan Sepulveda to head his Texas presidential campaign.

Sepulveda is a member of Obama’s National Latino Leadership Council and served as a senior adviser for Bill Bradley’s 2000 presidential campaign. He also has worked to increase the political participation of Hispanics.

“Our priority is expanding our strong grass roots movement for change across the state so we can help Democrats up and down the ticket and win the White House in November,” Sepulveda said.

Texas Democrats hope to capitalize on Obama’s presence in downballot races.

Sepulveda is president and founder of The Common Enterprise, which helps nonprofit groups, philanthropic organizations and businesses build stronger communities. He will take a leave starting Monday to serve as state director for Obama.

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Two-thirds of U.S. Hispanic voters support Democrat Barack Obama for president over Republican John McCain and the partisan gap among the United States’ fastest growing voter bloc is broader than at any point this decade, a study found.

The nationwide telephone survey by the Pew Hispanic Center released on Thursday said 66 percent of a sample of 892 registered Latino voters polled said they backed Obama, with 23 percent supporting McCain, a senator from Arizona.

The survey said Obama’s strong showing represented a sharp reversal in his fortunes from the primaries “when he lost the Latino vote to Hillary Rodham Clinton by a nearly 2-to-1 ratio, giving rise to speculation in some quarters that Hispanics were disinclined to vote for a black candidate.”

The study said 65 percent of Latino registered voters now identified with, or leaned toward, the Democratic Party, compared with just 26 percent who said they identified with the Republican Party.

“This 39 percentage point Democratic Party identification edge is larger than it has been at any time this decade,” the study said.

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