The conventional wisdom gives Hillary Clinton an edge over Barack Obama in the Latino community because of racial tensions between blacks and Hispanics.
 
But Roberto Lovato suggests a different explanation.  He covers Latino electoral politics for New America Media.
 
Lovato: “Barack Obama’s just barely starting his national career and is an unknown quantity to many of us and hasn’t been to our communities yet.  The Clintons have brand recognition; they have history; and they have networks built up voter time.  That’s a hard thing to fight.”
 
That’s borne out by a Field Poll released earlier this week.  It showed Clinton with a huge lead over Obama among Latinos, 59 to 19 percent.

Clinton campaigned in Salinas earlier this week, where she picked up the endorsement of the United Farm Workers union.