LAT: Latino Vote Still Lags Potential (not registered in #s to help Kerry)

[DeepModem Mom]

THE RACE FOR THE WHITE HOUSE
Latino Vote Still Lags Its Potential
The Southwest influx leans Democratic but is not registering fast enough to help Kerry.

By Ronald Brownstein and Kathleen Hennessey, Times Staff Writers


LAS VEGAS — Block by block, house by house, Cesar Auyb and Irene Rodriguez are literally changing the complexion of politics in Nevada. But the change is coming slowly.

Since May, the two have been on leave from their jobs in Las Vegas casinos to work as organizers for a union-sponsored, nonprofit organization trying to increase voter registration among the state's exploding Latino population. On a bright and breezy morning last weekend, each was diligent and cheerful as they pursued potential voters in a heavily Latino neighborhood west of the downtown strip.

But in an hour of door knocking, each registered just one new voter. Everyone else they encountered was ineligible to register, many because they had not taken the steps to become U.S. citizens, even though they met the legal requirements.

In miniature, the experience of Auyb and Rodriguez shows how the continuing influx of Latinos is reshaping the partisan balance across the desert Southwest — and why the transformation may not arrive fast enough to help Sen. John F. Kerry erase President Bush's advantage in the region this November....


http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-latinovote25sep25,1,4601619.story?coll=la-home-headlines