Martin O’Malley is targeting Latino voters [View all]

[NCTraveler]

Former Maryland governor Martin O’Malley is making a special effort to target Latino voters during the first week of his presidential campaign, appearing on the Spanish-language television channel Univision, offering interviews on immigration policy to major news outlets and speaking to the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

"I believe Latino Americans, like all Americans, want the American Dream to be truthful and real,” O’Malley (D) told The Washington Post on Monday. “I believe my record speaks to my heart.”

Immigration is among the issues where O’Malley has sought to draw distinctions between himself and Hillary Rodham Clinton, the overwhelming front-runner in the Democratic primary race. While he was governor, Maryland passed its version of the Dream Act, which extended in-state tuition benefits to undocumented immigrants at public universities and colleges provided their families meet certain conditions. The state also adopted a two-tiered system that allows undocumented immigrants to get limited driver's licenses that can't be used for other purposes, such as boarding an airplane.

During the battle over the state's adoption of the Dream Act, “we met every week with O’Malley,” said Gustavo Torres, executive director of the advocacy group CASA of Maryland.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2015/06/01/martin-omalley-is-targeting-latino-voters/