Latino leaders lean left for ... Hillary?

As New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson began the first-ever presidential campaign by a Hispanic, Latino leaders faced a dilemma.

Is it acceptable, they wondered -- especially at a time when Latinos are feeling attacked on the civil rights front -- to skip this historic moment and endorse a candidate besides Richardson for the Democratic nomination?

The answer came swiftly when New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton announced early on that she had won the highly coveted endorsement of Raul Yzaguirre, the former president of the National Council of La Raza, a long-standing Latino advocacy group.

She also got the backing of the controversial but influential mayor of Los Angeles, Antonio Villaraigosa, New Jersey Democratic Sen. Robert Menendez and dozens more.


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And so far, Clinton is leading the fierce race for Latino endorsements. Well-known and well-financed at the start of her campaign, she aggressively sought Hispanic support before Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois surged in the polls and before Richardson's bid became sure-footed.

"One (endorsement request) that was very difficult to turn down was from my very good friend, Bill Richardson," acknowledged Yzaguirre, a co-chairman of Clinton's campaign. "(Clinton) made it clear she wants to reach the Latino vote," he said. Former President Bill Clinton was intellectually tuned in to the Latino electorate, but "Hillary gets it emotionally and intellectually."

And Latinos want to be wanted. After being largely ignored in the presidential campaigns of Al Gore and John F. Kerry, Latinos are getting far more attention than an "En Espanol" tab on candidates' websites.

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The Clinton campaign has drawn notice for its multifaceted strategy, which includes bringing on the first Hispanic woman to manage a major presidential campaign, the hiring of a Latino pollster and community networking in Florida and Southwestern states where Latinos could be the swing vote in the general election.

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In a Gallup/USA Today poll conducted last month, 59 percent of Hispanic voters surveyed said they supported Clinton over Obama, Richardson and then Edwards, with the rest of the field barely registering.