MIAMI, June 29 (UPI) -- A handful of Latino musicians, actors and celebrities are urging their fans to support Democratic U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama.
Latino celebrities are becoming involved in the 2008 White House race to an unprecedented degree this year, The Miami Herald reported Sunday.
The Pew Hispanic Center reports 18.2 million Latinos are eligible to vote.
The celebrities are able to reach easily the 7.3 million Hispanics under 35, the newspaper said.
Latino superstars such as Juanes, the Colombian rocker, and Los Tigres del Norte from Mexico are urging fans at their concerts to register to vote, while Dominican merengue legend Juan Luis Guerra and Mexican rockers Mana played a benefit concert in Miami in March to benefit a national campaign to increase citizenship and voter registration among Hispanics.
There has been no reported groundswell of support among Latino stars for Republican nominee John McCain.
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Orlando area is fertile ground for Hispanic-owned businesses
Central Florida has some of the top Hispanic-owned companies in the nation, according to the latest national ranking by California-based Hispanic Business magazine.Florida also has the most top-ranked Hispanic businesses in the nation, with 124 companies generating $12.8 billion in revenue last year.The findings are part of the magazine's directory of the "500 Largest U.S. Hispanic-owned Companies," a yearly listing of top performers published this month.Eleven Central Florida companies made the list, despite a difficult economic climate that led to a 0.6 percent decline in revenues from the previous year among the top companies.
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The National Latino AIDS Action Agenda Network (NLAAN) Releases Federal Policy Recommendations - Addressing the Latino AIDS Crisis
NEW YORK, June 25 /PRNewswire/ -- The Latino Commission on AIDS and its community partners join eight cities acrossthe United States (Los Angeles, New York,Washington, DC,Philadelphia,Puerto Rico,Miami,San Antonio and Chicago) in releasing Latino/Hispanic HIV/AIDS Federal Policy recommendations - addressing the Latino AIDS Crisis to address the HIV/AIDS emergency in Latino/Hispanic communities across the nation, includingPuerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. With 120 organizations represented by over 350 individuals already signed on in support of the document, the release comes in response to the health emergency caused by the accelerated growth of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Hispanic/Latino communities across the nation.
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John McCain and Barack Obama to Address Nation's Latino Political Leadership
WASHINGTON, June 19 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) announced today that Senators John McCain and Barack Obama, the presumptive Republican and Democratic presidential nominees, will address the nation's Latino leadership at the organization's 25th Annual Conference next Saturday, June 28, in Washington, D.C.
'We're delighted that Senators McCain and Obama will meet directly with Latino officials who represent millions of Americans across the country,' said Adolfo Carrion, Jr., NALEO President and Bronx Borough President. 'Latino voters are going to play a decisive role in the general election and the community is ready to hear both candidates make their case. This is the first step in a necessary process of getting to know each other better.'
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'We're delighted that Senators McCain and Obama will meet directly with Latino officials who represent millions of Americans across the country,' said Adolfo Carrion, Jr., NALEO President and Bronx Borough President. 'Latino voters are going to play a decisive role in the general election and the community is ready to hear both candidates make their case. This is the first step in a necessary process of getting to know each other better.'
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Latino leanings
Many Latinos backing Obama now that Clinton's bowed out
Even though they strongly backed Hillary Clinton in the race for the Democratic nomination, many Latinos appear to have quickly warmed to Barack Obama's historic quest to capture the White House.
Latinos voted for Clinton over Obama by a nearly 2-to-1 margin, according to an analysis of exit polls throughout the primary season by the Pew Hispanic Center.
Now that the Illinois senator has clinched the nomination, many Clinton loyalists have shifted their allegiance to Obama.
Obama enjoys a 33 percentage point advantage over McCain among Latino registered voters nationwide, according to a Gallup Poll summary of surveys taken in May.
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McCain, Obama vie for Hispanic votes
Two eager presidential hopefuls are about to start courting Hispanic voters, the majority of them jilted by their beloved Hillary Clinton.But no amount of sweets and flowers can alter two tough realities: John McCain is not a Democrat, and Barack Obama is a black man in a country where Hispanics and African-Americans have differing views on social and racial issues.Exactly how the presumptive presidential nominees will make their appeals in New Jersey — which has the country's seventh-largest Latino population — is not certain.Experts note McCain and Obama have a big job ahead: On Super Tuesday in February, 68 percent of New Jersey's Democratic Latino voters chose Clinton; 30 percent chose Obama.
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Illegal immigrants are good risks, lenders find
National and state estimates show that Latinos have a far lower rate of foreclosure than subprime borrowers
When Miguel left Mexico for the Carolinas, he planned on staying for a year.
That was five years ago. Now, he has a wife, a 1-year-old son and a mortgage that he got in February without a Social Security number.
“It wasn't difficult at all,” Miguel says.
Though illegal immigrants can't get a driver's license in North Carolina anymore, they can still be approved for a home loan.
With an individual taxpayer identification number (ITIN), good credit and proof of tax filing, those who aren't legal permanent residents can qualify for a fixed-rate “ITIN mortgage.”
The estimated $3 billion ITIN mortgage market makes up only a tiny fraction of the overall U.S. mortgage market, which originated $2.4 trillion in loans last year.
Yet the borrowers who have ITIN mortgages have proven to be some of the sturdiest as foreclosures climb to record highs.
Banks aren't required to keep track of how many ITIN home loans they give, so it's difficult to find accurate data on them.
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When Miguel left Mexico for the Carolinas, he planned on staying for a year.
That was five years ago. Now, he has a wife, a 1-year-old son and a mortgage that he got in February without a Social Security number.
“It wasn't difficult at all,” Miguel says.
Though illegal immigrants can't get a driver's license in North Carolina anymore, they can still be approved for a home loan.
With an individual taxpayer identification number (ITIN), good credit and proof of tax filing, those who aren't legal permanent residents can qualify for a fixed-rate “ITIN mortgage.”
The estimated $3 billion ITIN mortgage market makes up only a tiny fraction of the overall U.S. mortgage market, which originated $2.4 trillion in loans last year.
Yet the borrowers who have ITIN mortgages have proven to be some of the sturdiest as foreclosures climb to record highs.
Banks aren't required to keep track of how many ITIN home loans they give, so it's difficult to find accurate data on them.
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Casa trains Hispanics how to interact with police
If the police ask where you are from, even if they seem friendly, do not tell them.
Tell them your name, but nothing else.
Sign nothing without an attorney.
Demand to see warrants before opening doors.
Above all, do not give police false documents, and never lie to them.
That’s the message Hispanics received from senior officials of Casa de Maryland in Frederick on Saturday.
The Silver Spring-based organization, whose ‘‘primary mission is to work with the community to improve the quality of life and fight for equal treatment and full access to resources and opportunities for low-income Latinos and their families,” according to its Web site, came to Frederick to continue its campaign against a four-month-old deportation program.
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Tell them your name, but nothing else.
Sign nothing without an attorney.
Demand to see warrants before opening doors.
Above all, do not give police false documents, and never lie to them.
That’s the message Hispanics received from senior officials of Casa de Maryland in Frederick on Saturday.
The Silver Spring-based organization, whose ‘‘primary mission is to work with the community to improve the quality of life and fight for equal treatment and full access to resources and opportunities for low-income Latinos and their families,” according to its Web site, came to Frederick to continue its campaign against a four-month-old deportation program.
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J-Lo Backing Obama?
Superstar actress and singer Jennifer Lopez (J-Lo) was seen "slipping" into Barack Obama's Senate office for what the Hill called a "mysterious meeting". Asked by reporters about the purpose of her visit to the presumptive Democratic nominee, Lopez answered "I'm not ready to do any press yet".
Should she decide to back Obama, Lopez would be the latest -- and most famous -- among the throng of Latino celebrities that have already come out in support of the Illinois Senator. Among the other Latino artists already backing Obama are the more than 20 Latin music and film stars who recently released a Spanish-language video in support of the Democratic presidential candidate.
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Should she decide to back Obama, Lopez would be the latest -- and most famous -- among the throng of Latino celebrities that have already come out in support of the Illinois Senator. Among the other Latino artists already backing Obama are the more than 20 Latin music and film stars who recently released a Spanish-language video in support of the Democratic presidential candidate.
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Spanish-language media key to victory with Latinos
While the dust was still settling last week in the Democratic presidential race between Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton, presumptive Republican nominee John McCain was kicking up his general election advertising war — on Spanish-language radio.
Smart move.
Obama, the Democratic survivor, is still figuring out how to win over the huge Hispanic voting bloc that strongly favored Clinton in the primaries. But McCain already has begun his Hispanic media campaign — in Spanish and English — in the hopes of copying the successes that President Bush had with those voters.
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Smart move.
Obama, the Democratic survivor, is still figuring out how to win over the huge Hispanic voting bloc that strongly favored Clinton in the primaries. But McCain already has begun his Hispanic media campaign — in Spanish and English — in the hopes of copying the successes that President Bush had with those voters.
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