McCain and the Latine vote

Before the convention starts each night, teenage staffers hand out signs on the convention floor. The signs are made to look homemade but they’re mostly the same, and a bunch say �Vica McCain.� The Republican Party is trying to convince more young Latinos that McCain will keep the country safe and strong, and also that McCain is the best man to deal with immigration reform. This delegate mentions that McCain has put his name on an immigration package. He says Latinos will like McCain when they learn about him, and the challenge is getting the message out to Latinos. That message isn’t resonating in the heavily Latino neighborhood of West St. Paul. I spoke with several people here this morning, and most seem detached from the speeches on both sides of the aisle. This man who still spends his winters in Mexico says he liked McCain’s old more moderate line on immigration. But his views on immigration don’t reflect what most Latinos are worried about, and this pollster says his statistics show that most Latinos are worried more about the economy, education and the war in Iraq, and immigration is not the principal for U.S. citizens of Hispanic ethnicity. He says on those key issues, however, the Republican Party has done a bad job of reaching out to Hispanic voters, and the polls reflect that. Obama has nearly doubled his support of Latino voters over McCain in early polls.