Presumptive presidential nominees Republican Senator John McCain and Democrat Senator Barack Obama are battling for votes in the Hispanic community, the fastest-growing minority group in the US and one that is expected to be an important bloc in the November election.
Each candidate sought to capitalize on an issue important to the Hispanic community — immigration reform — with McCain calling it his “top priority,” and Obama accusing the Republican of caving in to conservatives on the issue.
The two spoke separately on Saturday to some 700 Hispanics attending the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials conference. It is the first of three such appearances each candidate is scheduled to make to Hispanic organizations in less than a month, underscoring the importance of a voting bloc that is expected to carry a great deal of weight in such battleground states as Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico and others with large numbers of Spanish-speaking voters.
Both McCain and Obama support an eventual path to citizenship for millions of immigrants in the country illegally, and, the issue is therefore not expected to be a major point of differentiation in the campaign. Still, Hispanics will be paying careful attention to what is said on the subject.
McCain cosponsored broad bipartisan Senate legislation last year that would have overhauled the immigration system and improved border security; the legislation split the Republican Party as critics pushed for a border-enforcement only approach.
After the measure failed, and in the heat of the Republican nomination race, McCain emphasized the need to secure the borders first before enacting other reforms, which he said were still needed.
McCain drew applause after answering the question of whether “comprehensive immigration reform” — and not just enforcement — would be a top priority in his first 100 days in office.
“It will be my top priority yesterday, today and tomorrow,” McCain said. “We have to secure our borders ... but we also must proceed with a temporary worker program that is verifiable and truly temporary. We must also understand that 12 million people are here, and they are here illegally, and they are God’s children.”
Appearing later, Obama accused McCain of walking away from comprehensive immigration reform.
“One place where Senator McCain used to offer change was on immigration. He was a champion of comprehensive reform, and I admired him for it. But when he was running for his party’s nomination, he walked away from that commitment and he’s said he wouldn’t even support his own legislation if it came up for a vote,” Obama said as the crowd interrupted him with applause. “We can’t vacillate. We can’t shift.”
Like McCain, Obama also was asked how broad immigration reform will rank in importance at the outset of his presidency.
“It will be one of my priorities on my first day because this is an issue that we have demagogued,” Obama said.
Responding to Obama’s criticism, McCain’s campaign issued a statement that said Obama “worked to kill” last year’s Senate legislation by voting for amendments to it that Democratic sponsors opposed.
A recent AP-Yahoo News poll showed that Obama leads McCain among Hispanics, 47 percent to 22 percent with 26 percent undecided.
Still, Obama, who is trying to become the first black US president, does not have a lock on the diverse group. During the Democratic primary, Hispanics preferred rival Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton to Obama by nearly two-to-one.
McCain is hoping to build on recent Republicans’ inroads with Hispanic voters. US President George W. Bush captured about 40 percent of the Hispanic vote in 2004, the most ever for a Republican presidential candidate.
Also on Saturday, McCain met privately with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani. Afterward, McCain said the war-ravaged country is making significant but fragile progress.
He expressed confidence about prospects for the two countries completing a complex agreement that would keep US troops in Iraq after a UN mandate expires at year-end. McCain also attended an evening fundraiser in Kentucky.
Earlier on Saturday, Obama made a previously unannounced stop at Walter Reed Army Medical Center to visit wounded war veterans. His campaign also announced that Obama would be visiting the Middle East and Europe this summer. He’ll likely go to Jordan, Israel, Germany, France and Britain.
Obama has said previously that he intends to visit Iraq and Afghanistan this summer but his campaign would not say whether those stops would be part of the trip to the Middle East and Europe.
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