Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney won the Iowa caucuses and he’s in position to win the New Hampshire primary too. But Univision reports polls show that he’s underwater with Latinos in a head to head match-up with President Obama.
And on Monday Romney made it clear he’s going after the Latino vote.
"Take a group like Latino-Americans. If I can convince more Latino-Americans to vote Republican, I’ll be doing pretty well pretty broadly," Romney said at a campaign stop in New Hampshire’s Nashua Chamber of Commerce.
And on Sunday he also made comments that could easily appeal to Latino immigrants in the U.S who have become naturalized citizens, a.k.a. voters.
"We became a nation that attracted the innovators of the world," Romney said at a campaign stop in New Hampshire Sunday. "It’s in our DNA, it’s who we are."
"Attracting innovators of the world?" Really? That sounds like he’s talking about immigrants to me.
But perhaps the biggest cry for some attention for Latinos is Romney mentioning his padre es de México. Romney in Rochester, NH on Sunday:
But Romney hardly ever mentions his father’s roots in Mexico or the fact that he still has many distant relatives living in the country and it’s not surprising the subject does not come up more often. His family’s history there is controversial. Romney’s great-grandfather, Miles Park Romney, fled the U.S. to Mexico with a group of Mormons in 1885 to avoid anti-polygamy laws in America. And a Washington Post piece published in July detailed how his relatives have more open views on immigration than the former Massachusetts governor.
At least two-thirds of Latino registered voters prefer President Obama over Mitt Romney, a survey published two weeks ago found.