|
Sen. Edward Kennedy’s (D-Mass.) name is gold in the Latino community, and his endorsement of Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) was timed Monday to bridge the widest racial divide working against Obama’s presidential ambitions.
But with time running short before many of the most heavily Latino states vote, it could be too little, too late.
The Kennedy family’s historical affinity with Latinos, along with Kennedy’s work last year to pass an immigration bill that included a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants, makes his backing one of the most important to many Latinos.
Kennedy will have to win Obama converts almost instantly, however, because eight of the 10 states with the most Latinos are voting in the next week.
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) won about two-thirds of the Latino vote in the Nevada caucus, and polls indicate that margin could be repeated in states like California, where Clinton holds a 3-to-1 advantage and where many more delegates will be handed out.
Obama took only about a quarter of the Latino vote in Nevada despite his endorsement from the influential culinary workers union. Latinos make up 40 percent of the union’s 60,000-person membership.
“Latinos clearly know Sen. Clinton better than they know Sen. Obama in states other than Illinois. The question is really whether or not there’s enough time in states like California for Sen. Obama to turn that around,” said Cecilia Munoz, a senior vice president at the National Council of La Raza.
In his endorsement speech Monday, held at American University, Kennedy praised Obama’s work on the immigration bill. Kennedy is set to swing through crucial states with large Latino populations on Obama’s behalf.
|
