Latinos not getting as much attention from Presidential candidates as ’00

An Iowa State University professor who studies Latino issues says the Democratic presidential candidates have not courted the support of Iowa’s Spanish-speaking citizens like the candidates did in 2000. Hector Avalos says there was a big increase between 1996 and 2000 with the number of candidates contacting Iowa Latino leaders. Avalos met with then-candidate George W. Bush in 1999 to talk about Iowa Latino issues. Avalos says then Democrat Bill Bradley became the first presidential candidate to talk solely about Latino issues at I-S-U. He says no candidate has talked about “ethnic issues” at Iowa State this time around. Avalos says some of the candidates have Spanish-langugage websites, but they’re just a translation of the candidates’ general website and do not specially address issues of concern to Latinos. Avalos says he and other Latinos want to know how the candidates stand on immigration policy, for example.