In South Texas, Obama Focuses On Hispanic Voters

[DeepModem Mom]

WP: KEY CONSTITUENCY
In South Texas, Obama Focuses On Hispanic Voters
By Dan Balz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, February 23, 2008; Page A07

CORPUS CHRISTI, Tex., Feb. 22 -- Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) campaigned through heavily Hispanic South Texas on Friday, attempting to make inroads into one of the most important constituencies in the state's key March 4 primary. In previous primaries and caucuses, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) has consistently won the Hispanic vote, and Texas will show whether Obama's post-Super Tuesday winning streak has increased his appeal among a bloc of voters essential to the Democrats' hopes of winning the White House in November.

A Washington Post-ABC News poll this week showed Clinton and Obama running even overall in Texas. But Clinton led Obama 59 percent to 36 percent among likely Latino voters, who will make up one-third or more of the Democratic primary electorate....

Obama brought his standard themes of hope and unity to his opening events in South Texas, but also some tailor-made messages and lines aimed at wooing voters. He called for the creation of a new Veterans Administration hospital to deal with the health needs of the sizable population of military veterans in the area, who now must drive many miles to receive care. "We need a VA hospital right here in the Valley," he said. "People don't need to be driving 200 miles (for health care)."

He also talked of about changes in trade policy that would be good for both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border, and he soft-pedaled his support for building a fence along the border designed to curb the flow of illegal immigrants. A fence alone, Obama said, is "not going to work" to solve the nation's immigration problems.

During a rally at the University of Texas-Pan American in Edinburg, Obama offered a brown-black connection with the largely student audience with references to Martin Luther King Jr. and Cesar Chavez, who organized the United Farm Workers Union in California. King, he said, had once written to Chavez to say their causes were one....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/22/AR2008022202860.html?hpid=topnews