Bush Woos California Latinos

Pushing for the votes of California Hispanics, George W. Bush marked the Mexican holiday of Cinco de Mayo Friday by saying that all Americans "deserve to be proud of our heritage."

But there was fresh evidence that Hispanics in the state are leaning heavily toward Democrats.

Bush, appearing at a breakfast sponsored by the U.S.-Mexico Foundation and the San Diego County GOP, called for both better border enforcement and a deeper understanding of the economic forces that drive illegal immigration.

"So long as there's a wage differential and so long as there's hunger and love, people will come and work," he said, drawing moderate applause from the mostly white audience.

The Republican presidential candidate said the holiday, celebrated more fervently in some American cities than in Mexico, should be cause for reflection.

"Cinco de Mayo is a time to pause as Americans first and foremost and recognize that all of us come from somewhere and each of us deserves to be proud of our heritage," he said. "But it also reminds us that while we have our own respective heritages, we're also Americans." That line drew sustained applause.

Bush began his remarks in Spanish, but delivered most of them in English to a crowd of about 1,000 people who each paid $20 to attend. The money went to the county GOP and to the U.S.-Mexico foundation.

One man in his audience shouted "Viva Bush," to which Bush responded: "Si!"

On Thursday, Bush campaigned in heavily Hispanic Santa Ana, which has become an emblem of rising Hispanic political power.

The Texas governor walked the streets of a bustling Hispanic neighborhood, chatted with residents in Spanish, wolfed down tacos and called himself "Jorge."

Earlier in the day, Bush, who is Methodist, attended Roman Catholic Mass in Orange County. Most Hispanics are Catholic, but Bush said politics played no role in his appearance there.

Bush has made direct appeals to Hispanics a staple of his campaign swings to California, where 16 percent of the electorate is Hispanic, compared to 10 percent a decade ago.

A poll released this week suggested his challenge remains formidable.

The number of Hispanic voters in California has increased by 1 million in the past decade, and that trend has overwhelmingly benefited Democrats, according to the Field Poll.

Many Hispanics remain alienated from the GOP, which led fights during the 1990s against illegal immigration, affirmative action and bilingual education.

According to the survey, nearly half of all Hispanics currently on the voter rolls have registered since 1994, when California voters passed Proposition 187 outlawing most state services to illegal immigrants. Then-Republican Gov. Pete Wilson led the campaign for the ballot measure, which later was scuttled by federal courts.

That measure inspired many Hispanics to register and votethe pollsters said, and today Democrats vastly outnumber Republicans among registered Hispanics in California. Sixty percent of Hispanics in recent Field Institute surveys said they are Democrats, 22 percent said they are Republicans and 18 percent said they are not affiliated with either party.

California Hispanic voters also preferred Democrat Al Gore over Bush by about 3-to-1 in a March exit poll by Voter News Service for The Associated Press and the television networks.

Asked at a news conference how he would repair the political damage inflicted by Wilson, Bush said, "I've got a record to run on as governor of Texas. I've told our state we weren't going to bash immigrants and I think people here have heard that message," Bush said.

Cinco de Mayo is a Mexican holiday marking the May 5, 1862, victory by a small army of Mexican patriots and peasants over stronger French forces.