Clark Mindock with International Business Times looks at why Latino Votes Matter in the Democratic Primary Race. Why Latino political endorsements and winning over Latino based organizations and having the ability to communicate via mail, grassroots and media may make the difference in 2016.

Hillary Clinton received a gift from Latino voters in 2008 when the then-senator was in a close race to clinch the Democratic nomination for president. Whenever Senate colleague Barack Obama would inch closer to securing the nomination, Clinton was able to rally Hispanics in major states like California, Florida and Nevada to keep her in the running.

“If Democrats are going to win in 2016, they need to not only do well among Latinos — and we would assume they would based on previous performance — but they also need to turn out Latinos in some of the battleground states,” said Louis Desipio, a professor of political science at the University of California, Irvine. “One thing that the Democratic leadership should be paying attention to is: Who has the most skill at doing the sort of get-out-the-vote efforts that President Obama did so well with Latinos?”

Top Democratic candidates Clinton, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley are hoping to bolster their positions with Latinos through smart hiring on the campaign trail, working to secure coveted endorsements that pull weight in the Hispanic community and through grassroots organizing that reaches and identifies potential voters who never have cast a vote.

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