GOP strategy: Hispanic vote not as necessary 'cause few whites will vote for Obama

GOP strategy: "Hispanics? We don't need no stinkin' Hispanics!"

Excerpt from The Seattle Times
By Andres Oppenheimer

How can the Republican Party win the 40 percent of the Hispanic vote that most pollsters say it will need in the 2012 elections if their front-runners alienate Hispanic voters on issues such as immigration and cutting social programs, I asked several Republican strategists.

Republican pollster Nicole McCleskey told me that "what's going to be the key factor in 2012 is Obama's poor performance among white voters. Because he is doing poorly among white voters, it decreases the necessity of the Republican candidate getting to that 40 percent figure."

My opinion: In their quest for support of their party's right wing in the primaries, top Republican hopefuls have given up on the Hispanic vote. That's likely to cost their party the 2012 elections.