The GOP has plenty to gain by being hispanic-friendly. Hispanic votes are competitive unlike the black vote and their immigration patterns are similar to those of the Irish or Italian-Americans of years past.
Hispanics in Texas and Florida are quite competitive. They are as a block very socially conservative and those who escape socialist regimes are quite friendly to the Republican party. We have to separate the hispanic vote from the illegal vote which is fairly large.
That being said, Richardson is a pathetic loser who had no reason being in the primaries or thinking his endorsement meant anything.
When have a majority of non-Cuban Hispanics ever voted Republican? I don't see this happening often at all.
Note that the exit poll that claimed that Bush won 44% of Hispanics was the same poll that forecasted a Kerry victory. Oops. Revised numbers put his share somewhere in the high 30s. Bush never had a chance of closing a 20+ point gap to win this group.
Republicans would be far better off appealing to their core constituency - white males. Obviously there is overlap but they gain nothing if they trade plentiful white male votes for scarce Hispanic votes.
and their immigration patterns are similar to those of the Irish or Italian-Americans of years past.
Illegal Hispanics are invading cities large and small across the U.S., forming geographically large ethnic enclaves, committing absurd numbers of crimes, spreading gang warfare and blight, demanding (and getting) special privileges from the government, and milking public services for all that they're worth. And one could reasonably expect that they will continue to "stick with their own kind" more than white European immigrants, because that's exactly how racial minority groups usually behave.
The influx of Irish and Italians didn't exactly go off without a hitch either, but it didn't look anything like what we're seeing today.
Certainly. The trick is to attract Hispanic voters without becoming pandering race-obsessed dolts like the lib Democrats.
It is hard to do, and the lines are not always clear.
It would probably help for McCain, or Sarah to perhaps do multiple campaign appearances with Linda Chavez, or with other hispanic/Spanish Republicans. (I'm not a big fan of Chavez, but she could help alleviate any mistrust among the moderate GOP leaning Hispanics.
Like I said, it is not easy to go after one particular voting block without being seen as a panderer.