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President Daniel Ortega, who led the 1979 revolution in Nicaragua, says Barack Obama’s presidential bid is a “revolutionary” phenomenon in the United States. “It’s not to say that there is already a revolution under way in the U.S. … but yes, they are laying the foundations for a revolutionary change,” the Sandinista leader said Wednesday night as he accepted an honorary doctorate from an engineering university. Ortega led a Soviet-backed government that battled U.S.-supported Contra rebels before he lost power in a 1990 election. He returned to office last year via the ballot box. In statements broadcast on Sandinista Radio...

Summoning a time of political upheaval in Miami, a great-uncle of Elián González plans Friday to publicly denounce two Barack Obama campaign advisors who helped send the boy back to his father in Cuba eight years ago. One day before the expected Democratic nominee addresses a conference of mayors in Miami, Delfín González will hold a 1 p.m. news conference outside the Little Havana home where Elián lived with relatives for several months in 2000. Earlier this week, CNN reported that Elián, now 14 years old, has joined Cuba's Young Communist Union. Obama was an Illinois lawmaker during the 2000...

Ken Vogel reports that the Clinton campaign is using the results to openly argue that Barack Obama has a problem with Hispanic voters — an idea Clinton backers have previously mentioned only behind the scenes. “It was a 100 percent Hispanic primary and it shows that he has a problem with the Latino community,” Terry McAuliffe, campaign chairman for Hillary Clinton, told a handful of reporters after polls closed Sunday. “He cannot close in this key core constituency,” McAuliffe added. Voters in Puerto Rico are in some ways different from Hispanics living stateside, both because there’s a long tradition of...

Sunday: Hillary Clinton waves to a supporter at the Kasalta Bakery in San Juan, as she campaigns on primary day in Puerto Rico. (AP Photo) SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Hillary Clinton won the Democratic presidential primary in Puerto Rico on Sunday, and is expected to return to the mainland with a purseful of delegates. But lower-than-expected turnout could hamper her camp’s efforts to argue she can attract enthusiastic general election voters and is the better candidate than Barack Obama in the fall race against presumptive Republican nominee John McCain. Puerto Rico’s role was enhanced in the Democratic primary election...

This is just on from CNN. CNN is projecting Hillary will win Puerto Rico by a wide margin of 40%. Geez, I guess Michelle will soon add those brown people and yellow people to her 'whitey' tape. More popcorn.

Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama has drawn criticism from some Cuban Americans who disagree with his policy on negotiating with U.S. enemies. The Washington Times reported Sunday that the Illinois senator will likely have to defend his policy this week when he meets with the Cuban American National Foundation, in his first campaign stop in Florida in nine months. Obama has said that if elected president he would hold direct talks with hostile governments, including Cuba's communist leaders. In addition to holding talks with Cuban leaders including President Raul Castro, Obama has said if elected he would relax restrictions on...

This November McCain will win the election. I am certain McCain will be our next president. McCain will win because he will get about 54% of the Hispanic vote ( Bush got 44%). The Democrats can not overcome that large of a margin going to McCain. This will be fatal to their party. McCain will get such a large percentage of the Hispanic vote because of his support for immigration and because of the natural unreported tension that exist between the Black and Hispanic populations. At the same time, Hispanic will split their vote and vote Democratic for Congressional election....

Presumptive GOP presidential nominee John McCain - wildly popular in his home state of Arizona, on the Mexican border - has vowed to win a sizable chunk of the crucial Latino vote this fall. But history is against him. Typically, about two-thirds of Latinos vote Democratic in a presidential election. And a nationwide Gallup Poll, conducted between March 1 and March 16, confirms that trend.

Sen. Edward Kennedy delivered a passionate speech at East Los Angeles College with a Spanish accent that the heavily Latino crowd surely had never heard before. Proclaiming that a vote for Illinois Sen. Barack Obama is a vote for the people, he cried out, "Un voto para Obama es un voto para la gente." He went on for several more sentences in Spanish and then stopped himself. "There may be people here who don't understand my Spanish," he said.

Clinton beats Obama as candidates bicker over the final delegate count. Will the ethnic tensions inflamed by a rough caucus fight haunt the Democrats? Hillary Clinton won the Nevada popular vote, and Barack Obama's campaign is claiming he won more delegates, but it was hard not to worry that the Democratic Party could wind up the loser as I sat watching a nasty caucus battle at the Paris Hotel and Casino Saturday afternoon. At the end of the day, having called around to Democrats and reporters who were at other caucus sites, I'm pretty sure I witnessed one of the...

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama picked up the endorsement of several Latino community leaders and legislators on Sunday, including state senator Gil Cedillo. The Los Angeles democrat has been one of the state's leading supporters of driver's licenses for undocumented immigrants. Hillary Clinton has said she opposes such licenses. Clinton has so far won most of the endorsements from California's major Hispanic leaders, including L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez. This comes on the same day that Obama, while campaigning in Las Vegas, unveiled an economic stimulus package costing up to $120 billion that his campaign said...

Editor’s Note: By participating in the historic Spanish-language debate on Univision, Republican candidates finally realized that they need Latino votes. But is it “too little, too late?" NAM editor Elena Shore monitors Spanish language media. The first Spanish-language Republican presidential candidate debate couldn’t have come at a better time for the GOP. Latino support for the Republican Party has dropped substantially when the Latino vote is more important than ever. The candidates’ jostling over who is tougher on immigration has alienated Latinos even further. Seven of the eight Republican presidential candidates showed up at the University of Miami Sunday with...

This week, Pew Research introduced an interesting poll that shows Latino voters shifting away from gains the GOP made in 2006. Could it be because of the rhetoric about immigration reform? President George Bush benefited from gains in 2000 and 2004 and recognized it as a crucial voting bloc.

Fred Thompson's campaign named a handful of volunteer grassroots leaders in Miami-Dade to help boost its outreach to Latino voters -- a territory rival Rudy Giuliani is putting great effort in reaching. County leadership positions announced today include co-chairs: Homestead Mayor Lynda Bell and Miami-Dade Commissioners Joe Martinez and Natacha Seijas. The latter two previously endorsed Thompson when he appeared at Miami's Urbeita Oil in October. Other's involved Lois Jones, Chris Miles and Luis Rodriguez.

WASHINGTON -- Rudy Giuliani is the only 2008 Republican presidential candidate who has not accepted an invitation to a "values voters" conference of social conservatives in Washington, D.C., Oct. 19-21 sponsored by the Family Research Council. Giuliani's absence suggests that he will fare badly in the conference's straw vote though he leads the national Republican public opinion polls. Some 2,000 social conservatives from around the country are expected to attend the event. A footnote: Supporters from outside his staff are urging Giuliani to discontinue the stunt of interrupting a campaign speech by taking a cell phone call from his wife....

CAMPAIGN '08 | Dem candidates woo growing demographic In 1994, Maya Solis became a White House intern and got to see the inner workings of the West Wing. "The Clintons have been great to our family," said Solis, 32. "I see the human side of them." Maya Solis' father, Chicago Ald. Danny Solis (25th), is one of the few Illinois politicians who has, so far, come out in support of Clinton's bid for president. Maya Solis is volunteering for Clinton, mobilizing grass-roots support in the gritty Pilsen neighborhood. » Click to enlarge image Maya Solis (left) signs up Adriana Vera...

Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama said Monday he'd participate in the Sept. 9 Univisión ''forum'' to be held at the University of Miami. Hillary Clinton, who was to be a no-show, changed her mind last week and decided to appear. But Univisión has started calling what it formerly dubbed a debate a ''forum'' so Clinton could stick by her statement that she'd only participate in six debates. The Univisión forum will be different from others in that it will be conducted in Spanish with instant English translations. Democratic candidates Bill Richardson and Chris Dodd, who both speak Spanish, were the...

In a recent article, The Economist called blacks and Hispanics “natural allies.� Citing Barack Obama’s “brothers in the fight for equality� reference to the two groups, the writer conceded that with blacks and Hispanics, there’s no such thing. I frequently blog about what I perceive as a growing battle between blacks and Hispanics for “preferred minority� status. A preferred minority group is one that ostensibly is under-represented in certain professions and universities. This status goes beyond mere numbers and focuses on “oppression.� For example, while Asians are a minority group in America, they’re not considered oppressed in the same sense,...

The goal was to work within the halls of Congress. Now, immigrant-rights groups want to replace the lawmakers who walk them. Labor unions, immigrant advocates and Democratic activists have spent the two weeks since the Senate squashed a comprehensive immigration overhaul bill constructing the early framework of a political payback plan. Capitalizing on the Latino voting bloc and its disaffection with the Republican Party, the groups intend to use the recent debate as a rallying shriek in the 2008 election. "We are the fastest-growing sector of the electorate, and we have shown a capacity to show up when we are...

The National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials invited all Republican presidential hopefuls to its annual convention at Disney World in Buena Vista, Fla. Only one showed up — Rep. Duncan Hunter, of California. A grateful audience gave Hunter a standing ovation Friday and some convention goers posed for snapshots with the congressman after his question and answer session. Standing at the lone candidate podium which was decorated in red, white and blue, Hunter was asked about his plan to fix the nation’s immigration system. “We need to build the fence and build it quickly,” he said. An 854-foot...

Gallup has just released some interesting numbers on the differences in approval levels for top political figures among whites and minorities. The survey breaks down the numbers between non-Hispanic whites, blacks, and Hispanics. George W. Bush's approval rating among whites is 32 percent, with 65 percent disapproval. Among blacks, the approve-disapprove number is 8-87. Among Hispanics, it is 29-63. (The Hispanic approval rating, by the way, is down from 38 percent a year ago, which could indicate that Bush's efforts on behalf of immigration reform haven't done him much good with Hispanics, or it could be that his approval rating...

TAMPA - When 1,000 Hispanic elected officials and community leaders from across the country gather in Orlando later this week, they'll hear from seven major Democratic candidates for president, but none of the major Republican candidates. All of the GOP candidates except dark horse Duncan Hunter declined invitations to appear at this year's annual conference of the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials, or NALEO. Even Arizona Sen. John McCain, a hero to some Hispanics because of his stance on immigration reform, won't be there. Democrats are portraying that as a snub of Hispanics by the GOP candidates....

The US Hispanic community, galvanized by a drive to reform US immigration law and wooed by presidential candidates, has become a political player ahead of the 2008 vote. Hispanics mobilized to pressure congressional passage of the most sweeping immigration overhaul in 20 years, hoping to bring some 12 million illegal immigrants, mostly Latin Americans, out of the shadows. Latinos became key voters ahead of the Republican and Democratic parties' primary elections next year as several states with huge Hispanic populations have moved their primaries to earlier dates. The rallying cry of Latino organizations has become "It is our moment, we...

New Mood From New Citizens Latino immigrants in South Florida who have traditionally registered with the GOP have felt alienated by the party, critics say. MIAMI BEACH — As a Cuban who fled Fidel Castro's communist rule for a new life in the U.S., Julio Izquierdo would seem a natural Republican voter — a sure bet to adopt the same political lineage that has long guided most of his countrymen who resettled in South Florida. But moments after taking his oath this week to become a U.S. citizen and registering to vote, the grocery store employee said he felt no...

When Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger travels the state this fall, he is more likely to stop at Spanish-language media outlets than the conservative radio talk shows he frequented his first two years in office. The Republican governor's re-election team has targeted Latino voters, calculating that if he gets more than a third of their votes -- a threshold a GOP gubernatorial candidate has not reached in the state since 1990 -- Democratic challenger Phil Angelides cannot win. "We'll probably be spending more time, more money and resources among Latino voters than any Republican statewide has ever done," said Schwarzenegger's chief strategist,...

The myth of the redemptive Hispanic is finally cracking. For years, conservative open-borders advocates have touted Hispanic “family values” as a prime reason to increase immigration. Hispanic immigrants, these conservatives say, will save America from itself. At a time when Anglo and black families are disintegrating, when society is becoming increasingly atomized and alienated, Hispanics will bring the traditional values that the country so desperately needs. In a classic iteration of the theme, Larry Kudlow wrote on NRO last May that Hispanic immigrants would “become a much-needed churchgoing blue-collar middle class . . . that is crucial to a healthy...

The myth of the redemptive Hispanic is finally cracking. For years, conservative open-borders advocates have touted Hispanic “family values” as a prime reason to increase immigration. Hispanic immigrants, these conservatives say, will save America from itself. At a time when Anglo and black families are disintegrating, when society is becoming increasingly atomized and alienated, Hispanics will bring the traditional values that the country so desperately needs. In a classic iteration of the theme, Larry Kudlow wrote on NRO last May that Hispanic immigrants would “become a much-needed churchgoing blue-collar middle class . . . that is crucial to a healthy...

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Local leaders discovered Sunday just how daunting a nationwide call to register Latino voters could be. Charlotte volunteer Alejandro Gálvez talked to soccer teams and their fans gathered at Martin Luther King Park Sunday afternoon, but most were illegal immigrants and couldn't vote. So Gálvez went to Plan B: registering them as volunteers to help find citizens who could vote. "We're trying to put pressure on the government so we'll get a response, be it good or bad," he said. "Although some are not citizens, they still have rights." With congressional elections coming up, pro-immigrant groups have...

Mexican politicians continuously demand more visas for their citizens, an expanded guest-worker program, and "regularization" of illegal aliens living north of the Rio Grande. While neglecting to mention that the United States admits nearly one million legal newcomers each year, they also fail to publicize: (1) the extremely high salaries they receive, often—in the case of federal and state legislators—more than their counterparts in developed nations that have substantially longer annual sessions, (2) the generous stipends that they grant themselves, including year-end aguinaldos and end-of-term bonuses of tens of thousands of dollars known as bonos de marcha, and (3) the...

LOS ANGELES - A potentially powerful expatriate voting bloc likely will have little effect on Mexico's presidential race because of the illegal status of many who live in the United States. Thousands of Mexican expatriates streamed into border towns Sunday to vote in their homeland's elections and others were allowed to cast absentee ballots for the first time. Still, many more were disenfranchised by their fear of crossing the border as undocumented residents. "I really wanted to vote, but I don't have papers so I couldn't go to Mexico" to get a voter card, said Adriana Lopez, 27, a housewife...

MEXICO CITY - Mexicans voted Sunday in a tight presidential race to decide whether their country becomes the latest Latin American nation to move to the left, choosing between a shopkeeper's son promising to save the poor and a conservative calling his rival's free-spending populism dangerous. The campaign, which exposed Mexico's painful class divisions, was the first since Vicente Fox's stunning victory six years ago ended 71 years of rule by the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI. Polls predicted a close race between conservative Felipe Calderon, 43, of Fox's National Action Party, and leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, 52, a...

The reason why Mexico is having chilly relations with the United States because we are importing Mexico's poor and the American tapayer is paying for them. Mexico refused to do nothing about the corruption that is pervasive in all levels of government. There is a massive crime wave being committed more and more by Mexican nationals against American citizens. Could this also be another reason why there is a chill between Mexico and the United States?The author of the piece does not touch this.

Story on the House of Representatives start on hearings on immigrants. The fur will fly on this one.

What are Hispanic groups and the Democratic Party have to fear about the upcoming immigration hearings by the GOP?What are they hiding?I thought that they would be glad that they are finally to air their views in the public.

Thinking that people have forgotten the May 1st failed boycott,Hispanic leaders are beginning a drive of sign new voters in 19 states. Whether these "new voters" are qualified becuase of their immigration status remains to be seen. But, they are still going through their voter drives, especially in heavily Hispanic areas of the country and along the border state.

County Board member Walter Tejada joined elected Latino officials from across the region last week to announce the start of a voter registration drive, with the goal of getting tens of thousands of Spanish-speaking citizens to the polls this November for the first time. Throughout the summer and fall, Tejada and other Latino activists will canvass Arlington neighborhoods speaking to residents about the importance of voting and helping them acquire the necessary paperwork to register. "We have got to educate the community about the nuances of being able to vote," Tejada said during a June 12 press conference. "We have...

This ethnic group, by far the fastest growing in our nation, will likely tip one way or the other as a result of what happens in Washington this year and next. With the Hispanic vote expected to top 20 percent by 2020, the resulting collective decision of the Latino community could be the most important factor in the future of America's political parties. Some Republicans feel squeezed between the demands of their right-wing base and their desire to appeal to Hispanic voters. But they need not make a choice. They can have their cake and eat it too. Liberals want...

The immigration rallies across America showed that restrictionists aren't the only ones with strong views. But beyond podium pounding, compelling arguments are also necessary. As the Senate goes back this week to the task of crafting an immigration bill, it is crucial to focus on the right reasons for creating a guest-worker program and legalizing 12 million illegal immigrants. The case for immigration doesn't have to do as much with the Latino vote or civil rights. It should center instead on America's growth, competitiveness and dynamism. This month's rallies of thousands of people in many major cities raised the importance...

A panel of immigration activists said yesterday that it will not encourage workers and families to walk off the job and keep their children from school as part of a May 1 boycott, but will hold voter-recruitment and petition drives instead.The announcement by activists from the District, Chicago and Los Angeles at a news conference in Washington underlined the split among the mostly Latino activist groups that led huge demonstrations in more than 140 cities in recent weeks, and shows that the grass-roots movement is operating at cross purposes toward the same end -- immigration reform and legal status for...

Check out what the DemocRATs are passing out!

HARTFORD — New Haven Mayor John DeStefano Jr. resurrected the idea of city-issued ID cards for undocumented immigrants at a gubernatorial debate Tuesday, while he reserved a decision on whether as governor he would back drivers’ licenses for people here illegally. DeStefano and Stamford Mayor Dannel P. Malloy, his Democratic rival for the Democratic nomination for governor, debated issues in a forum sponsored by the Latino & Puerto Rican Affairs Commission Toastmasters Club held at the Legislative Office Building.. Both supported creating a path to citizenship for the estimated 12 million people in the country here illegally, and backed other...

SAN DIEGO -- Who killed immigration reform? The autopsy shows it was Senate Democrats.It's tempting to put a pox on both parties. But it wouldn't be fair. Republicans were tireless in search of comprehensive, and bipartisan, reform. Sen. John McCain of Arizona joined with Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., to draft the guest-worker legislation, and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter made that legislation central to what his committee sent to the full Senate. Sens. Lindsay Graham of South Carolina and Sam Brownback of Kansas were vocal in their support. Sens. Mel Martinez of Florida and Chuck Hagel of Nebraska offered...

A group of former Clinton administration officials not fully satisfied with the Democratic National Committee’s outreach to the Hispanic community are participating in a soon-to-be launched multimillion-dollar effort to brand the Democratic Party among Hispanic residents. While Democratic leaders and party officials say they will continue what they call their aggressive and long-standing efforts to court Hispanics, outside allied groups such as the New Democrat Network, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and People for the American Way are stepping up operations in hopes of translating the high political energy among Hispanics into Democratic votes.The efforts resemble the outsourcing of...

Republicans risk Hispanic support in border debate 28 March, 2006 By John Whitesides, Political Correspondent WASHINGTON - The debate on immigration poses deep political risks for a divided Republican Party that could see its recent gains among Hispanics wiped out if Congress approves a bill that gets tough with illegal workers. The Republican split on immigration, on full display as senators took up the issue on Monday amid emotional street protests, could sabotage the party‘s long-range effort to court the country‘s fastest growing ethnic group, Hispanic activists and analysts said. "If they go ahead and crack down, Republicans are dead...

Piensas votar? If you're Hispanic and thinking of voting in next month's special election, a lot of attention is being focused on you. Both parties are targeting Latino voters with new Spanish language ads for and against upcoming ballot initiatives. State Controller and gubernatorial candidate Steve Westly launched Spanish language ads today, urging Latino voters to say 'no' on the governor's initiatives. They're appearing in Southern California's and Sacramento's Hispanic media first, and possibly the rest of the state in the next few days. Westly ad: "Sus iniciativas perjudicaran a nuestros ninos, nuestros masestros y a la gente trabajadora." ("His...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger discussed his Nov. 8 ballot measures yesterday at the Joslyn Senior Center in Escondido. He also sought to clarify his position on same-sex marriage, saying he believes that gay and lesbian couples should be entitled to the same legal protections as heterosexual ones, but that marriage "should be between a man and a woman." The governor weighed in on the emotionally charged topics at a meeting with The San Diego Union-Tribune's editorial board during a visit to the San Diego area to campaign for his Nov. 8 special election ballot agenda. Some Latinos have criticized Schwarzenegger as...

Thursday, Sept. 29, 2005 9:57 a.m. EDT Rove Behind Immigration Details Political strategist Karl Rove has become the White House’s point man in pressing Congress to back a program that would temporarily legalize the status of millions of illegal workers. Concerned that anti-immigrant sentiment within the GOP was undermining the administration’s efforts to appeal to Latino voters, Rove and other Bush allies organized White House sessions with lawmakers to push for Bush’s plan, the Los Angeles Times reports. "There is a level of detail that was not there before that is very important,” said Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), describing the...

(Gets perfect marks on voting records) WASHINGTON - The National Hispanic Leadership Agenda awarded Sen. Russ Feingold a 100 percent approval rating for the 108th Congress, indicating total satisfaction with his voting record on issues affecting Latinos. "I'm honored to receive this wonderful acknowledgment from the Hispanic community," Feingold said. "As I travel around the state, Wisconsinites from all backgrounds, including our flourishing Hispanic community, often agree on the issues that matter most to them." Those all-important issues, according to the NHLA, are education, health care, economic mobility, labor, civil rights and immigration. The organization compiles its annual Congressional Scorecard,...

Worried that the tone of the immigration debate is pushing Latinos away from the Republican Party, the White House is working with political strategists to create a broad coalition of business groups and immigrant advocates to back a plan President Bush could promote in Congress and to minority voters in the 2006 elections. The strategists say Bush is planning to make immigration a top priority as soon as this fall, once the focus on a Supreme Court vacancy has passed. A guest-worker program is favored by many Latinos and by businesses, many of them major GOP donors that depend on...

Kerry blew it with Latino voters. Senator Clinton is determined not to. If it’s true the Democratic Party is getting in touch with its Latin side, then Hillary Clinton is lining up to tango. After the desastroso 2004 presidential election, when the Democratic ticket failed throughout the heavily Hispanic Southwest, New York’s junior senator seems determined to avoid a repeat. She has invited pollsters to speak privately with her staff about the nation’s newest power constituency, laying out the numbers, analyzing what went wrong. And she’s actively courting Latino voters, taking steps not just to retain her Hispanic base, but...