Obama, McCain Court Hispanics

Yesterday, both John McCain and Barack Obama addressed the annual League of United Latino Citizens conference in Washington D.C. At 15% of the population, Latinos are now the country's largest minority, and, as a consequence, the presidential candidates are working hard to secure the lion's share of their votes. Latinos also represent the fastest-growing segment of the U.S. voting population, so you can expect the courtship to become a fixture in American politics.

Back in 2004, George W. Bush won an estimated 40% of the Latino vote. But if the Daily Standard's Matthew Continetti is right, this time around, things might not be so good for the GOP. Attending yesterday's speeches in D.C., Matthew reports...

Obama appeared late in the afternoon. There was more energy in the ballroom, more campaign signage, more people, and louder music. The elevator muzak that had preceded McCain's speech was replaced with Shakira's "Hips Don't Lie." McCain's speech felt like your typical rubber-chicken affair. Obama's felt like a party. And Obama made the wise choice of having one of the nation's senior-most Latino elected officials, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, introduce him. McCain might've had Florida Senator Mel Martinez do the same for him. He didn't. The LULAC leadership introduced McCain.

Obama brought the audience to its feet when he entered and exited the stage. He had them cheering throughout. His speech used the theme of diversity to argue for immigration reform and economic policies aimed at the Latino working class. This is the LULAC's bread and butter, and the audience ate it up. The room clearly supported the Illinois senator.

I feel for McCain on this one. He should be applauded for his work on the immigration bill, but now he has to hide what he believes in so as to placate the right-wing of his party. He'll hemorrhage Latino support as a result. A senator from a border state who favors sensible immigration reform he should be running strong with Hispanics. Instead, he even trails Obama with Latinos in Arizona.

If polls on the subject are to be trusted, the assumption that Latinos won't vote for Obama because he is black is nothing more than a myth.