GOP can’t lose Latinos

“ACROSS THE NATION, Republicans are asking what they did wrong in the 2006 midterms. This is a question with many answers. But few missteps were more foolish ”” and few will be harder to correct ”” than those made with Latino voters. The appointment this week of Cuban-born Sen. Mel Martinez of Florida to chair the Republican National Committee is a good way to make a new start. But the damage done in the last year goes deeper than symbolism, and it will take more than one appointment to undo it.

Republicans have, of course, long been divided about Latinos ”” split between those who “get it” and those who don’t. President Bush was the most prominent Republican who got it, though he was hardly alone. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Rudy Giuliani, George Pataki and others have long understood the GOP’s inherent appeal for the fastest-growing voting bloc in the country. In a national poll last month, 34% of Latinos called themselves conservative, 29% moderate and only 24% liberal. “

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