Recent walk-outs by mostly Latino students and workers, along with massive demonstrations against a House bill to crack down on illegal immigration, are evidence of the numbers' potential long-term political implications, said U. political scientist Claudio Holzner.

"There were no such protests in '86 when the last amnesty passed," Holzner said. "Something has changed."

The biggest change could be an increase in Latino voters. The Hispanic population had a median age of 27.2, younger than the national median age of 36.2.

And only about 40 percent of the Hispanic growth was due to immigration, meaning that natural increase, or the difference between births and deaths, accounted for about 61 percent of the growth.

Pew Hispanic Center demographer Jeffrey Passell said 2005 was the first year in 35 years that Latino births outpaced immigration.

"That's a real change," Passell said. "That means in the long run, more and more Latinos will be (U.S.) Latino natives, who grow up here and speak English as their first language, and all the things that come with that."

However, while the Latino population is the nation's largest minority, its political clout is diluted. In part that's because a large chunk — roughly one-third — are under 18, Passell said. Another factor is the fact that many Latinos aren't citizens.

Overall, Latinos are less likely to register to vote and turn out to vote than either white, non-Hispanics or blacks, Passell said.

Concerted efforts to mobilize voters and get eligible immigrants to naturalize could have a significant impact on the number of Latino votes cast, Passell said.

"If Latinos registered at the same rates as whites (in 2004), and voted at the same rates as whites, it could have added about 1.5 million Latino votes," he said.

Unless otherwise indicated, the numbers refer to the population who reported a race alone or in combination with one or more other races. Hispanics may belong to any race.

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E-mail: dbulkeley@desnews.com