Does Clinton still have south Texas Hispanics?

LAREDO, Texas -- Half a lifetime ago, Hillary Rodham, a Yale law student just a few years out of Maine South High School, worked for several weeks in south Texas.

Her boyfriend -- a fellow Yalie by the name of Bill Clinton -- was organizing Democratic presidential nominee George McGovern's 1972 Texas campaign. Hillary helped run the effort in San Antonio, 2½ hours up Interstate 35 from this border city of 203,000.

Thirty-six years later, Hillary Clinton is the candidate, and she's counting on a reservoir of good will that she began building among South Texans all those years ago. Needing to win Tuesday's Texas primary to keep her candidacy afloat, Clinton is counting on the southern portion of the state and its heavily Hispanic population to give her the edge she'll need to hold off Sen. Barack Obama.

Experts in the arcane calculations that mark this state's combined primary-and-caucus system say Clinton needs to carry San Antonio and win overwhelmingly here in the Rio Grande valley.

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Van de Putte, a co-chairman of the Democratic National Convention, says south Texas Hispanics appreciate Clinton's long-standing relationship with them."She doesn't need a map to get to our neighborhoods," Van de Putte said, "because she's worked and lived in them."Charlie Jones, San Antonio-based chairman of Texas Progressive Populist Democrats, isn't so sure. He's watched Clinton's grip on the affection of South Texans loosen in recent weeks. "A month and a half ago, I'd have said that this state would be Hillary's, but I would say now there's been a change," Jones said. "And that change reflects several things, one being kids and the use of technology. You see how Obama has tapped into that, and you start thinking that 12 or 15 years ago, the Clintons were the youth movement. Now you can almost say the Clintons are more associated with the Geritol group."Jones said his wife described for him how Obama recently used technology to connect with Hispanic youths in San Antonio. First, Jones said, the senator from Illinois staged a coup by drawing a crowd of several thousand to Plaza Guadalupe, an open-air arena situated in a part of San Antonio strongly influenced by Clinton backer and former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Henry Cisneros."Obama held up a mobile phone to the crowd and asked, 'How many of you have mobile phones?' and of course nearly everyone did," Jones said. "Then he asked: 'How many of you can text?' and about 90 percent of them raised their hands. And Obama said, 'I'll talk to you every day; I'll send you messages.' That kind of technology is breathtaking."But Carlos Uresti, a Texas state senator whose district stretches over a vast expanse of sparsely populated southwest Texas, says traditional values will carry the day -- and region -- for Clinton."Hispanics are very loyal," Uresti said. "Hispanics are very family-oriented. If any niece or nephew has a birthday party, the whole family shows up. When Hillary says it takes a village to raise a child, I think that resonates for us; she understands that it takes a family."If, in fact, Clinton's appeal to Hispanics remains that powerful, then she should do very well in South Texas. San Antonio's population is about 60 percent Hispanic. Laredo, which grew from a 1990 population of 123,000 to a 2004 count of 203,000, is 95 percent Hispanic.Bill Clinton, on a final whirlwind tour before Tuesday's voting, was scheduled to speak here in Laredo Monday afternoon. Among those planning to attend the rally was Alytza Heuilar, an 18-year-old Laredo Community College student, who cited Hillary Clinton's experience and decisiveness as the key factors for her.Other students favor Obama. One, Raul Dominguez, 20, mentioned Obama's vocal support for the "dream bill," which would have allowed high school students who have been in the United States for at least five years to pay in-state university tuition.With the Rio Grande River and U.S.-Mexican border only blocks from campus, several students have immigration issues on their minds."I have family from Mexico, so it would really hurt me if they were to erect a wall," said Alfonso Hernandez, who cast a vote for Obama during the state's early voting period. He said that while Obama and Clinton approach issues similarly, he objects to Clinton picking and choosing, for political resume purposes, her White House experiences.She should say, " 'Yeah, we messed up on some and succeeded on others.' " Hernandez said. Dominguez said the fact that Obama sometimes speaks a few phrases in Spanish helps him among Hispanic voters. But Jaime Soto, a criminal justice major seated at the student center commons with Hernandez, wasn't buying that approach."Ted Kennedy came down here and sang the theme song of Guadalajara, and it's like: 'What does Guadalajara have to do with America?' " Soto said. "Yeah, we're on the border, but we're still America. So, I'd have preferred it if he'd sung, like, the 'Star-Spangled.' Maybe it worked for some of the people around here, but not for me."