From the Latin American Advisor:
Q: U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio introduced Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney at the party's convention last week. Other prominent Hispanic politicians, including Ted Cruz, a candidate for U.S. Senate from Texas, Puerto Rico Gov. Luis Fortuño and New Mexico Gov. Susana Martínez also spoke at the convention as Republicans try to capture the Latino vote. Will the party be able to chip away at President Barack Obama's high approval ratings among Latinos? How important will Latinos be in the upcoming election, and what issues are driving their decisions? What implications does the Republican Party platform have for Latinos in the United States, and how would those policies affect U.S. relations with Latin American countries? A: Louis Desipio, associate professor of political science and chair of Chicano/Latino studies at University of California Irvine: "Sen. Marco Rubio's introduction of Gov. Mitt Romney at the Republican National Convention made as strong a case to Latinos as Republicans could have hoped to make. He offered a compelling vision of an inclusive America built on the energy and vision of generations of immigrants and their descendants and told a personal story of immigrant success. The Rubio message, however, was lost in a convention and a campaign that has sidelined Latino concerns. It appears unlikely that Gov. Romney will be able to win comparable shares of the Latino vote to recent Republican presidential candidates including George W. Bush and John McCain...

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