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Clinton Gets Latino Boost — But is it Enough?

'Obama has been courting Latinos for a couple of weeks, but before that? I guess I'd have to think about who to vote for.'
Marisol Ramos
South side resident

Latino voters helped keep Hillary Clinton's chances alive in her race to become the next president of the United States - at least for now. With Clinton facing a must-win situation in the Texas primary on March 4, Hispanics voted for Clinton 2-1 over her rival Barrack Obama, according to ABC News. There was a record turnout of Hispanic voters in the Texas primary that gave Clinton a slim win. Clinton's Texas win showed that her strategy to openly seek out the Hispanic vote had paid off in big states like California and Nevada. It also proved conclusively that Clinton, who was outspent by Obama in Texas by $4 million, remained the undisputed champ of the Latino vote despite recent efforts by Obama to more openly court Hispanic voters (one way includes an amusing mariachi music video called "Viva Obama" produced by "Amigos de Obama" that anyone can view on Youtube.com).

But Clinton's popularity among Hispanics may not be enough. Several analysts have shown that even if Clinton wins the Democratic primary battles in the remaining states, she'll have a hard time wrestling enough delegates to win the nomination from Obama. That, in turn, means it may likely be Obama versus McCain in November. And that will mean José Salinas is eventually going to have to make a very hard choice. Salinas, a husband and father on the south side, is a solid Clinton supporter. However, even he realized that Clinton's chances of beating Obama were slim. When asked if he'd vote for Obama over Republican nominee John McCain.

"I don't know about that," Salinas replied. "McCain has done a lot more to reach out to Latinos than Obama has."

Marisol Ramos echoed that sentiment. "Obama has no experience," Ramos said. "I'm a Democrat, but McCain sticks to what he believes in. Obama has been courting Latinos for a couple of weeks, but before that? I guess I'd have to think about who to vote for."

Regardless of whether Obama or Clinton eventually pull out victory to face McCain, the country's electorate is already guaranteed a national face-off between two candidates that have openly sympathized with Hispanics. McCain pushed for two bills last year that would have helped legalize many undocumented immigrants, and he recently hired Juan Hernandez to be his Latino Outreach coordinator - even though it angered many in his own party.