Clinton makes push for Hispanics' support in Nevada

Toe-to-toe fight tries to cool down Obama
By Michael Martinez | Tribune national correspondent

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton rallied Latino voters and leaders Saturday and sought to make a dent in the union endorsements that so far have heavily favored her rival Barack Obama.

Clinton and several Latino leaders chose the headquarters of the Sheet Metal Workers Local 88 to say she understands the growing Hispanic community's political needs. Obama is scheduled to announce Sunday his lineup of supporting Latino leaders in California.

"She can make it happen. We can make it happen. You can make it happen. That's the difference in this election," said Henry Cisneros, a former Cabinet member for President Bill Clinton, Sen. Clinton's husband. "Adelante, Hillary Clinton!" he added, urging her "forward" in Spanish.

In appealing to Hispanics, Clinton, of New York, pledged improvements in education and health care and added that she would seek relief for homeowners at risk of losing their residences in what she labeled the nation's mortgage crisis.

"You're the fastest growing state but you're also the highest foreclosure rate," Clinton said to about 200 Nevada supporters and precinct captains.

Some participants later visited Las Vegas neighborhoods to encourage voters to attend the state's caucuses Saturday.

In one example of how Clinton and Obama are battling in Nevada, one Clinton canvasser, Irma Miller, was working in a North Las Vegas neighborhood when she happened upon a house where two Obama volunteers were already inside.

"The lady answered the door and said, 'Oh, Hillary, Hillary! I'm going to vote for her.' There were two Obama people inside and they got up and left," Miller, 67, a retired travel agent, recounted to a reporter following her and other volunteers, who confirmed the account.

Later, another voter approached by the canvassers, Rosa Montes, said she would vote for Clinton, but Montes added that she was impressed by the thousands of Obama supporters who turned out the night before at Del Sol High School.

"The place was packed. I saw all kinds of people, Hispanic, Asian, white. I thought it would just be African-American people," said Montes, who's Puerto Rican. "I think it's going to be close."

More than 1,000 people were unable Friday night to enter the school gym, which was filled with more than 2,000 people. "We're in a defining moment of our history. Our nation is at war, our planet is at peril. This is our chance," Obama said.

Elsewhere, Obama, of Illinois, is promising health-care reform in an ad running in Arizona that's notable for being his first in a state participating in "Tsunami Tuesday," when more than 20 states will hold primaries or caucuses.

Meanwhile, Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.), the highest-ranking African-American in Congress, whose state will hold a Democratic primary later this month, issued a written statement expressing displeasure with the Clintons over comments they have made about the importance of Martin Luther King Jr.'s civil rights movement and Obama's candidacy. In Reno on Saturday, Clinton faulted Obama's campaign for twisting her comments about King.

Clinton was scheduled late Saturday to fly to South Carolina, where rival John Edwards has been campaigning since Wednesday.

"Nobody has to tell me what's happening in South Carolina. I don't jet in here and hold a political event and go back somewhere else. I'm not from Chicago or New York. I'm from South Carolina," Edwards said after a town hall meeting Saturday in Barnwell, S.C.