Winning the Latino vote

This year’s historic primary, in which either a woman or a black man will, for the first time,… This year’s historic primary, in which either a woman or a black man will, for the first time, become the Democratic nominee, means a lot more than reading the same line I just wrote over and over again in 8,000 newspaper articles. It means more than suffering through months of Washington pundits’ speculation as to which demographic subset is too bigoted to vote for this or that candidate. For all the unnecessary reminders and reinforced discrimination, there’s a redeeming opportunity presented by their candidacies, a groundswell in multiculturalism celebrating them – one unlike any seen in recent campaigns.

Concurrent with the rising importance of Latinos as a voting bloc (and now that Republicans have tactfully ensured they’d get none of their votes) it should come as no surprise that both Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have been courting Hispanic voters with Spanish-language theme music. But which candidate has the best Latin tunes? I set out on a strenuous mission to determine, once and for all, who’s done it best.

I pressed play on Clinton’s song, “Hillary, Hillary Clinton,” and began awkwardly rocking my hips to the music – all pelvis, no rhythm – my fists scrunched into imaginary little maraca shakers. Performed by Walter Suhr and the Mango Punch, with an introduction by famed Tejano musician Johnny Canales, the song has some pretty convincing lyrics: “Una Presidenta fuerte, puede terminar la Guerra