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According to the U.S. Census Bureau, as of July 1, 2008, there were 46,943,613 Hispanics in the United States, about 15.4 percent of the population. This means that the Latino vote will be crucial in future elections. They already account for a high percentage of electorate in swing states like Arizona, New Mexico and Florida.

RUSH: Ladies and gentlemen, have you thought back to the 2008 election? Have you asked yourself who was responsible for that loss? Have you asked yourself who really should shoulder the blame and the burden for the defeat of Senator McCain? A lot of people have been speculating this, a lot of postmortems on the election. Let's go to the BBC. BBC World Service, host Stephen Sackur spoke with former McCain campaign manager Rick Davis and asked Rick Davis on whose shoulders rests the burden of the McCain defeat. DAVIS: We didn't successfully reach out to them. I mean, but...

For many conservatives, John McCain is not their favorite Republican. They think he's built a career at their expense, painting them as fools and bigots. They resent his holier-than-thou attitude. And they're not inclined to trust anyone who has been so fawned over by the national media. Curiously, a lot of liberal Democrats feel the same way about McCain. He isn't their favorite Republican either -- but it's because they know he'll be tough to beat in November. They would have preferred to run against someone more extreme and easier to demonize. That's not John McCain. first met McCain 10...

Miami will be at the epicenter of national Latino politics when the country's largest Latino civil rights organization descends on the city for its annual conference, but the top Republican presidential candidates are not expected to come. The head of the National Council of La Raza visited Miami on Tuesday to promote the event and to launch a new push to mobilize Hispanic voters in the 2008 presidential election. ''It's now time for the community to engage deeper in civic engagement . . . to show our political muscle in the next elections,'' said the organization's president Janet Murguia at...

WASHINGTON, June 9 — Helped by the fight over immigration, Democrats seeking their party’s presidential nomination are moving to court Hispanic voters like never before, as a string of early primary states with sizable Hispanic voting blocs prompt candidates to hire outreach consultants, start Spanish-language Web sites and campaign vigorously before Hispanic audiences. The battle for Hispanic voters is a result of the decision by several states with large Hispanic populations to move their presidential primaries to early 2008, including California, Florida and New York. Roughly two-thirds of the nation’s Hispanic residents live in nine of the states that will...

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A new poll shows that pro-life candidates who want to increase their level of support should appeal more to Hispanic voters. The survey shows Hispanic voters are more interested in abortion issues than non-Hispanics. Conducted by Miami-based Encuesta Inc., an independent market research and opinion polling firm, the poll asked both Hispanic and non-Hispanic voters to consider which political issues were important in deciding their vote. Some 64 percent of Hispanics said abortion was very important while 40 percent of non-Hispanic voters said abortion was important, a difference of 24 percent. That's important because the poll...

ANGELES (Reuters) - Karl Rove, U.S. President George W. Bush's senior political advisor, on Tuesday took the administration's message on immigration reform to Latino leaders, saying the country was approaching a "critical moment" in the debate. >br> Speaking at the annual convention of leading Latino civic group the National Council of La Raza, Rove said Bush would work with Republicans and Democrats in coming weeks to push through reform legislation that has bitterly divided Congress, the Republican Party and the nation. "We face a critical moment in our immigration debate, a moment when our nation will make an important decision...

White House adviser Karl Rove is scheduled to speak tomorrow at the annual conference of the federally funded, left-wing, open-borders-advocacy group, the National Council of La Raza. If he does not want his speech to look like an act of appeasement, he should confront La Raza on its opposition to commonsense policies designed to secure both U.S. borders and U.S. pocketbooks. La Raza, which means “The Race” in Spanish, has denounced as “horrendous” and “appalling” the House immigration bill passed in December, which was sponsored by Judiciary Chairman James Sensenbrenner (R.-Wis.) and supported by the overwhelming majority of House Republicans....

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is moving to shore up an area of vulnerability in his re-election campaign against his trailing Democratic opponent, Phil Angelides. On Tuesday at an event in L.A., he will announce the formation of Hispanic Families for Arnold. When he was elected in the 2003 recall election, Schwarzenegger garnered 34 percent of the Latino vote, a good total given that the replacement Democratic nominee, Lieutenant Governor Cruz Bustamante, is Mexican-American. But in some recent polls matched up against Angelides, Schwarzenegger is running under 20 percent. Forty to fifty community leaders and their families will join Schwarzenegger at the...

Poll: Majority of Hispanic voters support Kerry By Jorge A. Bañales. Washington, Oct 28 (EFE).- Most Hispanic U.S. voters support Democrat John Kerry in next week's presidential election and think President George W. Bush's invasion of Iraq was a mistake, according to a new poll by The Washington Post, Univision and a Latino affairs think tank. The survey was conducted Oct. 4-16 among 1,603 registered Hispanic voters from the 11 states with the highest Hispanic population. Joining the Post and Univision - the largest U.S. Spanish-language television network - in carrying out the poll was the Tomas Rivera Policy Institute....

The Board of Directors of The Latino Coalition today released the Florida results of their annual National Survey of Hispanic Adults. The survey shows that Florida Hispanic voters prefer President Bush by a 2-1 margin. "This survey shows that President Bush has been able to develop a significant lead among Florida Hispanic registered voters, and could make the difference in who wins Florida in November," said TLC President Robert Deposada. "According to VNS, in 2000 Bush won the Hispanic vote by a 49 percent-48 percent margin. But if the election were today, President Bush's lead could solidify Florida's electoral votes...

McALLEN — If campaign signs could vote, Becky Armendariz Klein might have an advantage in the race for congressional District 25. Klein, an Austin Republican, is running against U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin, for the newly drawn fajita stripshaped district, which runs from southeast Austin to McAllen and Pharr. And her signs are everywhere, located at busy intersections in staunchly Democratic Hidalgo County, standing alongside those of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney, who are making their second White House run. Klein described herself as "fascinated" by the District 25 campaign, knowing she has the potential to be the first...

The debate between Dr. Alexandria Coronado and Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez has been canceled. Sanchez has backed out. There will still be a rally at 6:00PM at the Santa Ana Police Officer's Association building at 1607 N. Sycamore St. on the first floor.

The Washington Times www.washingtontimes.com --------- Hispanic voters' role in '04 seen overstated By Joseph Curl THE WASHINGTON TIMES Published September 21, 2004 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- While President Bush and Sen. John Kerry have set up aggressive campaigns to draw Hispanic voters, the nation's largest minority bloc is unlikely to play a decisive role in the 2004 presidential election, based on their past voting records and their populations in battleground states. Although election analysts predict more than 7 million of the nation's 40 million Hispanics will vote on Election Day, the bloc represents 7 percent or higher in just five battleground states: Arizona,...

Sanchez's strategy against Perry: get out Hispanic vote He needs 'huge turnout' in campaign without issues, expert says 10/20/2002 By DAVID SEDEÑO / The Dallas Morning News Democrat Tony Sanchez's best hope to close the gap on Gov. Rick Perry will be to turn out Hispanics, his core supporters who have yet to be pumped up by his expensive and historic campaign, according to voting experts and a new poll. The Sanchez get-out-the-vote strategy, analysts say, will have to push hard on the traditional phone banks, door-to-door canvassing and Spanish-language TV ads. The effort could draw a record number...

These are the words of floriduh voter. I have just learned that former controversial Clearwater, FL Mayor Gabe Cazares is involved in McBride's campaign. He was mayor quite some time ago and I recall that my Dad knew him. Clearwater used to be a small community back then, I was a beach bum and I can't remember specifics regarding Gabe Cazares' scandal/controversy. So, if you're interested in this subject matter, then have at it and let's do some research on Clearwater's former mayor. True, we may not need to know after this Tuesday but gee, let's see what rock Cazares...

This is one of few warning calls you’re going to get on this issue. The Republican party; local, state and national is simply going to have to change its mode of operation in regard to the hispanic population. Hispanic conservatives and bilingual Americans (white, black, etc.) have been trying to get the party to understand the ramifications of the coming demographic changes. However, those who have been trying are running into a wall of bigotry. The individuals who speak Spanish, be they hispanic, white, black, etc. and share the same conservative, less-government, lower-taxes, work-for-what-you-get philosophy are frustrated by party regulars--who...