Too much work and only 4 days to do it.
http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/02/01/in-murray-hill-latinos-for-hillary-mingle/“Hillary’s relationship with the Latino community has always been strong,” Mr. Ferrer added. “It’s a long relationship based on real achievements, not something that happened two weeks ago. She’s stood with us on health care, on access to capital. She’s been with us absolutely every step of the way since the White House.”
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/sunday/commentary/la-oe-pachon30jan30,0,869578.storyFirst, and most obvious, is the name recognition that the Clintons enjoy in the Latino community. Bill Clinton was the first president to have two Latino Cabinet members serve simultaneously. Moreover, during the Clinton years, rising economic tides lifted Latino boats along with many others. Even at the height of the impeachment controversy, polls by the Tomás Rivera Policy Institute indicated that Clinton had a 70% approval rating among Latino voters. In contrast, Obama is a relatively new face and voice for all but Illinois Latinos.
Perhaps more significant, Hillary Clinton has done her homework by gaining early endorsements from Latino leaders who have demonstrated influence among their constituencies. Five of the seven Latino congressional representatives in California are on her side. In addition, nationally recognized politicians , such as L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Henry Cisneros, a former San Antonio mayor and U.S. housing secretary, have endorsed Clinton. California Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez and Raul Yzaguirre, who for 30 years headed the National Council of La Raza, are national co-chairmen of her campaign. Patti Solis Doyle, Clinton's campaign manager, is the first Latina to run a presidential campaign.
History is one reason why Clinton has such a strong stable of Latino supporters. Many of her endorsers, such as Cisneros, established or consolidated their political networks during President Clinton's two terms. When younger Latino politicians look at the Clinton campaign organization and ask "What Latinos are in your campaign?" they see well-known, influential faces at the top and at the state and local levels. In contrast, Obama's campaign has few such stars.
http://www.newsday.com/news/politics/wire/sns-ap-democrats-hispanics,0,4002812.storyBut Obama concedes that the Super Tuesday calendar gives him far less time to engage and charm voters than he had in Iowa and South Carolina, where he scored two big victories.
Many Clinton supporters, meanwhile, feel her years-long outreach to Hispanics, and her husband's popularity, will serve her well among the nation's largest and fastest-growing minority. They note she won the popular vote in the Jan. 19 Nevada caucus after taking 64 percent of the Hispanic vote to Obama's 26 percent. If she rolls up similar margins among Hispanics next week, Obama is in for a long night.
Columbia University political scientist Rodolfo de la Garza, who tracks Hispanic issues, agreed.
"It's awfully late" for Obama and his surrogates to try to overcome Clinton's hard-earned loyalty among Hispanics, he said. "The key is, he hasn't been around Latinos a lot."
Noting Kennedy's visit to Santa Fe, de la Garza said, "the Latinos there are a longtime, established, centrist group." Those words, he noted, fit Hillary Clinton better than Barack Obama.
http://www.mercurynews.com/politics/ci_8137257?nclick_check=1 "When I talk to my friends, we all say we're going to vote for her," said Sal Arciga, a 25-year-old phone operator having a carne asada burrito a table away from where the senator from New York sat.
What does he think about Barack Obama, running against Clinton for the Democratic nomination?
"O-who?" he asked, putting his burrito down, thinking about it. "I think he needs to come and eat here."
And that's essentially what Obama will have to do if he expects to break the Clinton stronghold on the huge and influential Latino vote here in California. He's got five days to do it, and he made an dramatic attempt Thursday with a rally at a Los Angeles trade college just hours before the final Democratic debate before Tuesday's primary. The event was billed as an outreach to Latino voters.
The only glitch? Most of the crowd was black.
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