Released on: February 18, 2008, 11:55 pm

Press Release Author: Earl Ofari Hutchinson

Industry: Government

Press Release Summary: Latino voters will be the X factor for Democratic
presidential contender Barack Obama in the crucial Texas primary March 4.It will
also be an even bigger factor in determining whether he will succeed in his drive to
be the first African-American U.S. president.

Press Release Body: Los Angeles, Ca, USA, February 19, 2008 -- Political analyst
Earl Ofari Hutchinson says the tensions and wariness between many Latinos and
African-Americans could hurt Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama in the
March 4 Texas primary. Latinos make up nearly 30 percent of the vote in the state.
Though polls show that Obama has sizeable support from Latinos, the majority still
back his opponent Hillary Clinton. In Nevada, Obama got the endorsement of the
leaders of the heavily Hispanic Culinary Workers Union. But getting the vote of the
rank and file union workers was a far different matter, Hutchinson insists, as the
subsequent vote showed. Latino voters, many of them almost certainly members of the
culinary union, defied their leaders and helped propel Clinton to victory in the
Nevada primary in January.

This was yet another danger sign that the continuing reluctance of manyt Latino
voters to back a major black candidate could have a blowback effect on Obama.

The number of Latino voters has steadily grown in the key primary states of New
Jersey, New York, Florida and his home state, Illinois. So much so that the black
vote, even though he has grabbed a near record share of it, and he has split the
white vote, will not insure an Obama victory in Texas and beyond. The Latino vote
looms as the X factor for him. Hutchinson says Obama is now the black candidate that
faces that challenge and danger.

Earl Ofari Hutchinson is an author and political analyst. His forthcoming book is
The Ethnic Presidency: How Race Decides the Race to the White House (Middle Passage
Press, February 2008).
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Contact:

Earl Ofari Hutchinson
Hutchinson Report
Los Angeles, Ca. USA.
323-296-6331
hutchinsonreport@aol.com
http://earlofarihutchinson.blogspot.com



Web Site: http://earlofarihutchinson.blogspot.com

Contact Details: Earl Ofari Hutchinson
Hutchinson Report
Los Angeles, Ca. USA.
323-296-6331
hutchinsonreport@aol.com
http://earlofarihutchinson.blogspot.com