Political tug of war brews over Latino voters

Alex Coolman

They were one of the more popular items at the Orange County Fair: not

corn dogs or ice cream cones, but small blue buttons available from the

booth sponsored by the Republican Party of Orange County.

“George W. Bush Para Presidente,” the buttons read. “George W. Bush

for President.”

“We were passing those [buttons] out like hot cakes,” said Tom

Fuentes, the county party chairman. “I would guess a good third of the

visitors to our booth were Latinos and Latinas.”

It’s a far cry from the way Republicans were presenting themselves to

Latino voters in the mid-1990s, when the combination of Proposition 187

and an anti-illegal immigrant party platform managed to alienate a

significant chunk of the Spanish-speaking constituency.

“The cost was severe” of those political mistakes, Fuentes said. “Let

us hope that is behind us, and that we go on with a welcoming embrace.”

Latino voters are shaping up to be a hot commodity in this election.

Both Democrats and Republicans say they’re forming elements of their

campaign strategies around this group of voters, a group whose tastes are

not simple to predict.

“Basically, people have to understand the Latino community is not a

lockup for either party,” said Jeanne Costales, chairwoman of the Orange

County Democratic Party. “It’s not a homogenous group. There are huge

[intra-group] differences. The most stark example would be the Cuban

Americans, who are very different from the Mexican Americans in political

attitudes.”

In Orange County, particularly in areas like Costa Mesa, Garden Grove

and Anaheim, the Latino population is predominantly Mexican, and Costales

says Democrats make an effort to make door-to-door voter contact with

these potential voters.

“Those are precincts we walk,” she said. “That’s where we conduct

voter registration drives.”

Fuentes also stressed what he called “the personal and tactile nature

of Latino culture.

“Culturally, as an Hispanic, I can say that ours is a people used to

an abrazo, an embrace. We need in this [election] cycle to be better at

getting face-to-face at the front door, at community celebrations, to

have the person-to-person contact.”

Both parties in this election cycle are stressing the prominence of

Latinos in their group structure. Republicansare getting a boost from the

charismatic pull of George P. Bush, whose mother is Mexican.

The younger Bush campaigned locally for his uncle, the presidential

candidate, during the March primary and has become part of the national

campaign to attract Latino voters.

But the GOP also has Latino candidates in the 46th congressional and

69th assembly districts, which are now dominated by Democrats.

“Where it is competitive, we have Republican Hispanic banner

carriers,” Fuentes said.

Democrats point to the Latinos from their side who already hold

office: representatives like Loretta Sanchez in the 46th and Hilda Solis

in the 24th State Senate districts.

Beyond the matter of political style, of course, is the question of

policy, of substance.

Not surprisingly, both sides think they’ve got the right mix for

Latinos.

Democrats highlight the strength of their education and health care

credentials, while Republicans emphasize the significance of their

opposition to abortion and tough stance on crime.

Which side gets the abrazo from voters, however, remains to be seen.