Both Obama, Romney To Court Latino Vote, Leadership At NALEO
By Elaine de Valle, Voxxi
For the first time in its history, participants of the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials annual conference in Orlando will hear from both the sitting U.S. President and the challenger.
Presumed Republican Party nominee Mitt Romney throws the first salvo today, and his camp has hinted at some kind of immigration talk on the heels of the policy change announced last week by President Barack Obama, who speaks Friday.
More than 1,000 people are participating in the 29th annual NALEO conference, which has been abuzz with the news last week that the president had halted the deportation of about 800,000 young immigrants who came here as children.
Naturally, everyone expects immigration policy – which was already a hot button issue before last week’s announcement – to take center stage during the powwow, which is called the “Latino political convention.”
A statement issued by NALEO last week, which is seemingly supportive of the administration’s sudden change, said “We look forward to hearing more about this policy change when the President directly addresses our membership. Our nation’s more than 6,000 Latino elected officials are ready to do their part… to promote policies and legislation that will ultimately make the American dream a reality for those young individuals who are making contributions to the prosperity and fabric of this great nation.”
And since Obama comes to the organization bearing a new, shiny, gift-wrapped present, there is speculation that Romney will touch on the important matter with the influential Hispanic leaders, too. His campaign has leaked that Romney will give “more details” that could expand on his stance. He more likely will use the opportunity to criticize Obama for what he and other Republicans have characterized as a political chess move.
Spanish-language ads the Romney campaign released this week, however, continue to try to shift the attention from immigration reform and to the economy. And U.S. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart told VOXXI that Romney would likely stick to that subject during the conference speech.
“That’s what people care about, jobs and economic recovery,” Diaz-Balart said. “I suspect Gov. Romney will stick to talking about the economy because that’s what we want to hear.”
There are some immigration panel discussions and sessions planned for the three-day conference. One today counts with the participation of Texas State Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer. But other topics — notably Latino leadership, education, healthcare and the use of social media in politics — will ignite debates and conversations as well.
The highly-anticipated Latino vote, a campaign darling of 2012 projected to break records with more than 12 million Hispanics casting, will likely be sub-context if not an outright talking point in everything. According to national surveys, Obama has maintained a strong lead of more than 2 to 1 among Latino voters, who will carry special weight in swing states like Florida — where there are more than 1.4 million Hispanics registered — as well as Arizona, Colorado, Nevada and New Mexico.
Florida Sen. Rene Garcia (R-FL) will open the conference at this morning’s breakfasts with his enthusiasm for the potentially pivotal role Hispanics will play in November. “Regardless of where they go, Hispanics are going to be the decision makers,” Garcia told VOXXI earlier this month. “The numbers we are growing. We’re not leaving and people have to give us respect and not take us for granted.”
That could include the two presidential hopefuls that are speaking on separate days this week. Echoing other politicians and political observers, Garcia said he hoped that both Romney and Obama will have more to say and would leave the typical type-cast “multicultural messages” at home when they direct themselves to the group of mostly Latino legislators — ranging from municipal elected officers from cities like Houston and Los Angeles to Congressional members and everything in between — who don’t want to hear the same ol’, same ol’.
“They don’t get it. They just don’t get it,” Garcia said. “And I’m not saying that as a legislator or as a Republican. I’m saying that as a Hispanic.”
This article first appeared in Voxxi.
Ealine De Valle spent 18 years as a staff writer for The Miami Herald, where she was part of two Pulitzer-Prize winning teams, one in 1993 for coverage of Hurricane Andrew’s aftermath and one in 1999 for an investigative series on voter fraud that overturned the 1997 Miami election. She has covered everything from presidential elections to local crime and business trends. She also won a South Florida regional Emmy in 2011 for a segment on absentee ballots irregularities in the Miami-Dade mayoral campaign.
[Photo by NALEO]