Obama to La Raza

Barack Obama followed John McCain before the National Council of La Raza at its annual convention in San Diego, looking for crucial Hispanic votes. While the Gallup Poll has him comfortably ahead of McCain, the swing states of Florida, New Mexico, Nevada and Colorado are not yet in his pocket. There Hispanics may be the swing vote. McCain held to his "border security first" policy, but also addressed other concerns of Latinos -- most notably, their success as small business entrepreneurs. So Obama not only renewed his support of "comprehensive" reform, but also spoke to the needs of small Hispanic businesses -- especially the burden of providing health care insurance to employees. (See Arizona Republic article.)