Obama and McCain clash but promise to prioritize immigration reform
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Courting the increasingly influential Latino vote, the rival presidential candidates each pledged Saturday to make overhauling the nation’s immigration policies a top priority, writes Richard Simon.
In separate appearances before the National Assn. of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials, Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain looked for every possible way to connect with their audience and emphasize distinctions between themselves.
Both political camps are working hard for the Latino vote. A projected 9.3 million Latinos will go to the polls this year, up from 7.6 million in 2004 and 2.5 million in 1980, according to the Tomas Rivera Policy Institute at USC. In California, more than 2.6 million Latinos will cast votes this year, up from about 2.1 million in 2004, the institute projects.
On the central question of providing a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants, Obama accused McCain of shifting positions to suit his audience.
‘When he was running for his party’s nomination, he walked away from that commitment,’ Obama said. ‘He said that he wouldn’t even support his own legislation if it came up for a vote.’
-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City