The test of the Hispanic vote

[sniffa]

Last weekend Senator Hillary Clinton's campaign team trained some 600 Las Vegas residents in the art of caucusing - that somewhat bizarre election technique to be used by Nevada voters on January 19 when they choose their presidential candidate.

Clinton is the leading Democratic candidate in the polls. The problems she is encountering in the two states that vote before Nevada - Iowa and New Hampshire - will arrive in Nevada later, but they are sure to arrive. Mike Huckabee, who is gnawing away at Rudy Giuliani's advantage in the Republican Party, has also surged in recent surveys. Nevada is telling the story of these crazy elections, in slow motion.
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This state is being pushed to the front of the primaries calendar as a representative state. The Democrats wanted to link the first two states, whose population is overwhelmingly white, with some that have more minorities. South Carolina was chosen for its African Americans and Nevada for its Hispanics, who make up about 20 percent of the population.

Theoretically, this is a good choice - if the Hispanics actually vote. The problem is that they, the most sought-after and discussed political bloc in recent years, which has been growing at a dizzying rate, are far from maximizing the power attributed to them.

The number of Hispanics has grown, but the gap between them and those who vote is still huge. They constitute more than 15 percent of the U.S. population, and 9 percent of the registered voters, but just 5 percent of the actual voters. Some are too young to vote, about 25 percent are illegal immigrants and others are apathetic. The question is whether they will wake up this time.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/936470.html