Obama, McCain intensify appeals to Hispanic voters, crucial voting block in upcoming election

Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain will intensify their appeals to Hispanic voters, who could play a pivotal role in the presidential race, with appearances at the convention of a leading Hispanic civil rights group.

Obama was to speak Sunday at the annual conference of the National Council of La Raza in San Diego, California. McCain will address the group on Monday.

It will mark the third time in three weeks that both candidates have taken turns making their pitches to a major Hispanic organization.

While immigration policies are a major concern for Hispanic voters, they also have been among those hardest hit by the faltering U.S. economy, with unemployment, home foreclosure rates and gas prices on the rise, and more people lacking health insurance.

Obama, speaking Saturday while flying from Chicago to San Diego, said there is "little doubt we've moved into recession," underscoring the country's need for a second economic stimulus package, swift steps to shore up the housing market and a long-term energy policy to reduce reliance on foreign oil imports.

The Illinois senator also gave reporters details about his upcoming trip to European capitals and U.S. battlefronts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

He said he would be accompanied by Sen. Chuck Hagel, a Republican from Nebraska and Sen. Jack Reed, a Democrat from Rhode Island. Both have extensive military experience and, despite being from differing political parties, have been mentioned as a potential Obama vice presidential running mate.

Obama said removing U.S. forces from Iraq won't be "perfectly neat," but said a call from Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki for a withdrawal timetable supports his position more than the longer term presence favored by rival John McCain or his fellow Republican, President George W. Bush.

The Arizona senator has chided Obama for proposing to withdraw U.S. forces within 16 months of taking office. McCain, a Vietnam War veteran, has even suggested it exhibits naivety by his rival, a freshman senator.

The senator also said he hoped to resolve concerns expressed by German Chancellor Angela Merkel about using the Brandenburg Gate as a backdrop for a speech during his visit to Berlin.

Merkel questioned the propriety of a foreign political figure using such a historic backdrop as the former Communist demarkation point to deliver a campaign speech.

Both Obama and McCain have their work cut out for them in appealing to Hispanics who have tended to lean Democrat but in more recent elections have sometimes gone Republican.

A recent AP-Yahoo News poll found Obama leading McCain 47 percent to 22 percent among Hispanic voters, with 26 percent undecided.

McCain hopes to match Bush's performance in the 2004 race, when he earned 40 percent of the Hispanic vote _ a record for a Republican presidential candidate.

Earlier this week, McCain and Obama both stressed anew their support for comprehensive immigration reform in separate speeches to a meeting of the League of United Latin American Citizens in Washington. But each candidate was primarily focused on making the case that he _ not his opponent _ could best lead the country out of its economic straits and help the middle class achieve prosperity.

McCain, a veteran senator from Arizona, which has a large Latino population, is respected by many Hispanics for refusing to pander to the anti-immigrant sentiment, including his prominent role advocating for immigration reform that alienated him from many in his own party. Yet he is viewed by some Latinos, as well as voters at large, as a sequel to the unpopular Bush.

Obama ran a distant second to rival Hillary Rodham Clinton among Hispanic voters during the Democratic primary campaign and is trying to pick up their support.

McCain made a direct appeal to Hispanics by emphasizing their patriotism and military service in a new television ad with a pro-immigrant message that began airing this week in Colorado, New Mexico and Nevada.

Last month, during separate appearances at the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials conference, McCain and Obama pledged to make overhauling the country's immigration policy a priority. McCain assured that audience that he would not pursue the enforcement-only approach sought by hard-line Republican conservatives, while Obama accused McCain of walking away from comprehensive immigration reform during the Republican primary contest.

Both candidates support a temporary worker program and eventual path to citizenship for millions of immigrants in the country illegally. But after a comprehensive Senate bill failed last summer amid coast-to-coast public outcry that split the Republican Party, McCain emphasized during the primary campaign that the borders must be secure first before people will accept other reforms.

Janet Murguia, the President and CEO of National Council of La Raza, in a statement described both candidates as leaders on the issue of immigration reform but called on them to both work to rein in what was described as sometimes offensive and charged debate on the issue.

"Hate has hijacked the immigration debate," said Murguia. "What passes for debate on this issue is often little more than a demagogic attack designed to inflame Americans rather than enlighten them. Our political leaders can stop it."

Immigration and language issues played a role in the campaign earlier this week when some conservatives attacked Obama for suggesting American children should learn a foreign language.

Obama was answering a question on education when he said he does not understand people who say "we need English only."

"I agree that immigrants should learn English," Obama said. "But instead of worrying about whether immigrants can learn English _ they'll learn English _ you need to make sure your child can speak Spanish. You should be thinking about how can your child become bilingual. We should have every child speaking more than one language."

Those remarks drew a response from the group Americans for Legal Immigration which said in a statement: "Barack Obama has stepped on a political land mine by stating Americans should be forced to learn to speak Spanish."

During an event Friday Obama slammed his critics, many of whom have advocated for English to be U.S.'s official language.

"This is an example of some of the problems we get into when somebody attacks you for saying the truth, which is: We should want our children with more knowledge. We should want our children to have more skills," he said. "I know, because I don't speak a foreign language. It's embarrassing," Obama said, chuckling.