'Unknown' Obama struggling to woo California Hispanics
LOS ANGELES (AFP) — "Obama? We just don't know him," says Hortensia, a Mexican arts and crafts seller at a bustling market in East Los Angeles, the heart of this city's Hispanic community.
With just days to go until California holds its crucial February 5 primary, Hortensia's sentiments are a common refrain among Democrat-leaning Hispanics as they weigh the merits of front-runners Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.
Both Obama and Clinton have aggressively courted Hispanics, who account for roughly one third of California's population, launching Spanish-language advertising campaigns and mixing with Latino communities.
Clinton munched tacos on the campaign trail in East Los Angeles while Obama broke into Spanish during a recent rally in Nevada, adopting the catchphrase "Si Se Puede! (Yes we can!)."
But Obama's attempts to wrest Latino support away from Clinton appear to have had little effect in California, where a recent Field poll gave the former first lady a 59 percent to 19 percent lead over Obama among Latinos.
In East Los Angeles' busy market, many Hispanics said they were backing Clinton largely because they had fond memories of her husband's presidency.
"Bill Clinton was a good leader, and the economy worked much better under him than with (President George) Bush," said Jose Balboa, the manager of a camera and photographic shop.
Hillary Clinton has also benefited from enthusiastic support by prominent Latino leaders, most notably Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and the influential veteran union activist Dolores Huerta.
According to Huerta, 77, Clinton has been championing the cause of Hispanics for years, while "Hispanics don't know who Obama is."
Obama has gained support among some Latino leaders however, including the Mexican American Political Association's president Nativo Lopez.
Lopez told AFP that his organization supported Obama because of the Illinois senator's record as an advocate of social projects, opposition to the construction of a US-Mexico border wall and support for undocumented workers to be allowed to apply for driving licenses.
Rights activist Angelica Salas has also expressed support for Obama, telling the Spanish-language newspaper La Opinion that he had "always been on the side of immigrants."
While the Latino support for Clinton suggests a racial divide in California only one out of around 20 people AFP talked with said Obama's ethnicity was an issue. Analysts say most Hispanic voters were unconcerned by the race question.
"The tensions between Hispanic and African-American communities in parts of Los Angeles do not reflect the overall picture," said Miguel Tinker-Salas, a professor of history at Pomona College, California.
Even Obama supporter Lopez was sceptical on whether race was an issue for Hispanic voters. "Our community is not divided by the question of whether to vote for a white woman or a black man," Lopez said.
"It's a generational issue -- older people are leaning to Clinton, younger people towards Obama."
Louis de Sipio, a professor of political science at the University of California's Irvine campus and an expert in Hispanic affairs, also played down race as an issue.
"Maybe two or three percent at most cares about the racial issue," de Sipio said. "The evidence, particularly in state and local elections, is that Latinos do vote for blacks."
De Sipio instead attributed Clinton's popularity among Latinos to a combination of factors: a higher profile, more vigorous campaigning and support from prominent Hispanic leaders.
"But most importantly, her message is more specific. She speaks about issues, like the economy and education, that are critical in Latino communities," De Sipio said.
"Obama just hasn't had as much time to campaign amongst Latinos and when he does he uses the same sort of lofty rhetoric that he does for non-Hispanic white audiences.
"And that's very moving, but it doesn't speak to the core needs of Latinos."
De Sipio said that while Obama's support for issues such as driving licenses for illegal workers may strike a chord with Latino voters, it was likely to be too little too late.
"If he'd started talking about it six months ago, it might have had more of an effect," de Sipio said. "But coming so close to an election in an important Latino primary I think it might be seen as being opportunistic."
