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MIAMI — Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush told a Republican gathering Thursday evening that the time is now to connect better with Latino voters, not two months before the general election. Bush is co-chairing a conference Friday of the new Hispanic Action Network, part of the GOP's latest efforts to forge ties with the growing number of Latino voters. The conference will focus on trade, immigration, media outreach and education. "Typically what happens in politics is you're working hard and you say, 'Oh gosh, we better start working at campaigning in the Hispanic community,' and it's like Sept. 15," he...

In one declarative night, California on Tuesday confirmed its status as a political world unto itself, zigging determinedly Democratic while most of the rest of the country zagged Republican. Voters not only restored the governor's office to Democratic hands, they may have given Democrats a sweep of statewide offices, though uncounted ballots could still shift one race. Driving much of the success — and distancing the state from the national GOP tide, according to exit polls — was a surge in Latino voters. They made up 22% of the California voter pool, a record tally that mortally wounded many Republicans....

LAS VEGAS – A Republican campaign urging Latinos not to vote was yanked from the airwaves Tuesday amid an outcry from Democrats that it was a dirty trick against Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in his hotly contested race against Republican Sharron Angle. Reid sought to link the ad to Angle as the ad drew a harsh rebuke from President Barack Obama, Hispanic leaders and candidates from both parties in Nevada. Angle's opponents also pounced on the tea party favorite for her comments to Hispanic high school students that "some of you look a little more Asian to me."

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) -- Republican Senate candidate Carly Fiorina launched a new effort Saturday to reach out to Latino voters, unveiling a Spanish-language website with supporters at a Hispanic-owned catering company. But her chief endorsement at Saturday's event, former U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez, has sharply different views from Fiorina on controversial immigration issues, including Arizona's new law and offering a path to legalization for those already in the United States illegally.

In a grilling of an interview by Wolf Blitzer on CNN's The Situation Room, Carly Florina, running against U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer in an election battle for Boxer's California seat in The Senate, said that she understood and supports Arizona's controversial illegal immigration law.

PHOENIX -- Gov. Jan Brewer could not have appeared before a more determined crowd Thursday night, in its opposition to the new immigration enforcement bill. “Governor, we ask, no we respectfully demand that you veto senate bill 1070,” said Erica Gonzalez-Melendez from the podium. She is the Chairwoman of the Board for Chicanos Por La Causa, a very powerful Latino community organization. Before the governor could even get into the hall for the CPLC anniversary dinner, she faced a gauntlet of protesters outside the Sheraton in downtown Phoenix. But the ballroom may have offered even less comfort. “What sits before...

A congressman from the president’s home state is threatening that he will urge Latino voters to stay home this November if the Democratic Party does not make a concerted effort to pass comprehensive immigration reform. Rep. Luis Gutierrez (Ill.) is arguably President Barack Obama’s biggest Democratic critic in Congress. And he’s not fond of Obama’s top advisers at the White House, either. The Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) member has strongly criticized the administration’s policy on deportation and questioned its commitment to far-reaching reform. Some Democrats have felt little urgency in pursuing the controversial issue, partly because they see no risk...

WASHINGTON -- Failing to overhaul the nation's immigration system, currently a backburner issue for Congress and President Barack Obama, could play a pivotal role in key mid-term election races in November, according to a new study on Latino voting patterns. The report by America's Voice, which supports comprehensive new immigration policies, says revising the laws is the defining issue for Latino voters. The report says that progress - or the lack thereof - in revamping immigration laws and regulations could affect as many as 40 congressional races in areas with sizeable Latino populations, including the re-election bids of Senate Majority...

Even as health care reform twists in the wind, immigration policy looms as the next big political debate — and Hispanics and Jews are moving to the forefront in a burgeoning political alliance. The next three months are seen as critical in the fight for immigration reform, but the weakening of the Democrats’ grip on Congress with the recent loss of a key Massachusetts Senate seat does not bode well for the passage of reform legislation. The Jewish-Latino alliance on immigration issues builds on the heritage and experience of the Jewish community and on the enthusiasm and urgent needs of...

California Republicans are seeing political gold in California's water problems, hoping to steal the issue from Democrats and win support from one of that party's key constituencies - Latinos. GOP leaders have put water atop their agenda for next year's statewide campaigns. They are expanding voter-registration efforts in the drought-stricken Central Valley, where unemployment is high and food banks are busy, and encouraging candidates to reach out to Latino voters hit hard by the recession. The strategy was distilled on a 5-foot-high banner at the Republican voter registration table in front of a Walmart store in Dinuba (Tulare County) in...

In the Long Run, the GOP Must Be Inclusive. BY MICHAEL GERSON Mel Martinez's recent resignation from the U.S. Senate was for personal and family reasons. But the departure of the Republican Party's most visible Hispanic leader crackles with political symbolism. Martinez does not consider himself disillusioned, but he is "frustrated." "There are lots of Hispanics to the right of you and me on immigration," he told me, "but they think, 'Republicans just don't like us.' " Martinez makes clear that a number of his Senate colleagues were "conservative, but not inflammatory." Other elected Republicans, however, made "pretty divisive use...

"Suzanne", a female caller to Mark Levin's show on June 25th, revealed the ominous secret of the Democrat health care reform effort. "I want to tell you that last week I attended a conference on health care reform sponsored by La Raza. And I will tell you that what they had to say, Mark, is scarier than anything that's been said so far on the health care plan. The kind of comments that were made and the notes that I took... they started the conference out by saying "America does not need health care reform, but Latino immigrants need health...

Longtime Latino rights activist and former Santa Ana school board chairman Nativo Lopez has been charged with four felony counts of voter fraud and a warrant has been issued for his arrest, according to this announcement by Secretary of State Debra Bowen. Bowen’s office worked in collaboration with the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office, which has charged Lopez with fraudulent voter registration, fraudulent document filing, perjury and fraudulent voting. The charges stem from Lopez allegedly registering to vote using an office address in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles although he lived with his family in Orange County,...

The conference on the future of U.S. politics, convened at the American Enterprise Institute on Friday, has come and gone, leaving in its wake more bad news for the Republican Party. I know. You're asking: "So what else is new?" The GOP has been taking a beating in the public opinion polls of late. What makes this particular set of portends scary for Republicans is that the conferees were not studying mere polling snapshots. They were dealing with demography—long-term trends regarding various voting groups identified by age, race and geographic location. And in politics, demography is destiny. I'm going to...

WHITMAN: I think there is, you know, plenty of places that the state has gone wrong. I have a lot of respect for Governor Schwarzenegger. He's done a number of good things -- workman's compensation help, the redirecting initiative that was passed in November. But the fiscal crisis has occurred on his watch and I think, you know, political leaders have to be accountable. So I think he will share some responsibility for this, along with the legislature. . . . . . MCCAIN: You're right, the Hispanic -- Latino vote is very important. We've been losing it. We have...

The Republican Party has scarcely begun to repair a wound that threatens to confine it to minority status: its 2006 collapse among Hispanic voters. Driven by some Republicans’ sharp attacks on illegal immigration and — as many Hispanics perceived it, immigrants in general — Latino voters fled the GOP en masse in the midterm elections, then turned on John McCain, as well. . . . . . There are stirrings of a Republican response. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) has spoken with Hispanic leaders about creating a new organization to back Latino candidates. Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele has made...

Naturalized citizens are poised to reshape California's political landscape The increase in naturalized Asian and Latino citizens -- 300,000 people took the oath of allegiance in 2008 -- could alter the state's policy priorities for years to come, analysts say. By Teresa Watanabe May 10, 2009 More than 1 million immigrants became U.S. citizens last year, hastening the ethnic transformation of California's political landscape with more Latinos and Asians now eligible to vote. Leading the wave, California's 300,000 new citizens accounted for nearly one-third of the nation's total and represented a near-doubling over 2006, according to a recent report by...

I just got a press release from a liberal pressure group called America's Voice headlined "Anti-Immigration Ads Don't Add Up in 2008." The group tried to make the same point that I've heard over and over again from amnesty advocates: The voters won't go for candidates who support immigration restrictions. "A new analysis of immigration advertisements finds that the strategy of using immigration as a political wedge issue in the 2008 election cycle was an utter failure," the release stated. Nonsense. What the voters won't go for is candidates who try to work both sides of the issue, such John...

The Lone Star State is the last big GOP bastion where Hispanics are a sizable voting bloc. Houston When President Bush says so long to Washington on Jan. 20, he’ll return to a much different Lone Star State from the one he left eight years ago. Pickup trucks, Big Oil, and barbecue brisket still reign supreme, but this red state that helped deliver the presidency to Mr. Bush twice and his father once, and that catapulted GOP strategist Karl Rove to the national stage, is suddenly spotted with big pockets of blue. Dallas is controlled by Democrats; Houston is in...

The demographics are frankly killing us. Kerry won the latino vote 53%-44% four years ago. Obama won the latino vote 67%-31%. Obama won the latino vote in Florida for the first time ever. Obama vastly increased his share of the latino vote in Colorado, New Mexico, and Nevada. If McCain wasn't on the ticket, Arizona would have been very competitive as well. And we probably got another decade before Texas becomes a purple state unless we reverse the trends here. Bush won Texas by 23% with Kerry getting 50% of the latino vote. McCain won it by 11% with Obama...