Democrats court Latinos to keep control of Senate

LAS VEGAS — Democrat Shelley Berkley found herself on a recent Friday night begging a roomful of Hispanic high school students to elect her to the U.S. Senate as a teenage mariachi band stood behind her, waiting for their turn to perform.

"They are a part of the population that is going to be very important to this election," explained Berkley, the granddaughter of Russian and Greek immigrants, after the campaign event aimed at Hispanic-majority high schools in Las Vegas.

Determined to retain their majority in the U.S. Senate, Democratic candidates are trying to replicate the strategy that boosted President Barack Obama's election in 2008 by courting Hispanic voters at cultural events and Spanish-language meetings in swing states across the nation. Republicans need to wrestle only three seats from the Democrats to gain control of the Senate, and Democrats hope ballooning Hispanic populations throughout the Southwest, Midwest and Eastern Seaboard will keep them in power. And if the candidates benefit from Obama's ongoing Hispanic outreach at the same time, all the better.

To woo Latinos disappointed with the floundering economy and stalled immigration reform effort, Democrats on the campaign trail are portraying Republicans as anti-immigrant and anti-middle class, often at events laden with Hispanic cultural touches, including fajita buffets, taco bars and plenty of talk about the immigrant experience.

Hispanics emerged as a pivotal vote in New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona and Florida in previous elections, but this cycle the Latino focus has extended to Missouri, Ohio, Virginia and North Carolina, where Hispanics grew by up to 90 percent in the past decade. Those swing states will not only decide whether Obama stays in office, they are also home to the nation's most competitive Senate races.

To counter the Democrat's message, Republican strategists are urging GOP candidates to tone down any rhetoric that could be perceived as anti-immigrant. They argue that if Obama's candidacy benefited some Democrats running in 2008, he could hurt more candidates in 2012.

"They won't have the coattails they claim to have in the Senate races," said Jennifer Sevilla-Korn, executive director of the Hispanic Leadership Network, a group trying to persuade Hispanics to vote for conservatives. "It's going to be harder to get Hispanics enthusiastic about coming out to the polls in the first place, that's why they are doing these big drives."