Obama leads in Latino vote

By GottaLaff
The L.A. Times has a couple of pieces on the elections today. And guess what? All that talk about how the Latino vote will be a challenge for Obama? Not as much as they thought. He leads McCain by a wide margin among registered Latino voters. First, the concern:

[Hillary Clinton's] statement on the vice presidency was part of a minuet that has played out over the last several weeks as Obama's nomination appeared increasingly likely. Some Clinton supporters threatened to withhold their votes unless he ran with her; other Democrats called the pairing a "dream ticket" that would counter Obama's apparent weakness with some groups, including Latinos and working-class white voters.

Now, the contradiction:

But there are signs that Obama begins the general election battle for Latinos with significant advantages.

A new Gallup Poll summary of surveys taken in May shows Obama winning 62% of Latino registered voters nationwide, compared with just 29% for McCain. Others have found a wide gap as well. The pro-Democratic group Democracy Corps compiled surveys from March through May that showed Obama with a 19-point lead among Latinos. And a Times poll published last month showed Obama leading McCain among California Latinos by 14 points.

Now does that sound like someone who's struggling? This is not to say he can coast, but it's a great start.
Republicans say McCain's numbers among Latinos at the moment are disappointing -- far below the goals set by a campaign that has long believed McCain could challenge the traditional Democratic dominance of the Latino electorate.

The numbers suggest that McCain's image has suffered after a competitive GOP primary in which he renounced some of the moderate views on immigration popular among many Latinos.

Si se puede!