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A look at the growing political clout of Hispanic Americans. Record numbers of Latinos voted in the last election, and their impact was felt nationally. Jeffrey Kaye of KCET-Los Angeles reports.

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JEFFREY KAYE: Congratulatory receptions for victorious politicians are nothing new for Washington, but it was clear, even at the buffet table, that this post-election gathering was unusual. Tamales and frijoles, nachos and salsa--not typical fare in the Capitol's halls of power but the power has shifted.

REP. ESTEBAN TORRES: It's a new day for us.

JEFFREY KAYE: Los Angeles Congressman Esteban Torres welcomed newly-elected Latino officials from around the country. They were there for workshops organized by the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials, or NALEAO. Arturo Vargas, NALEAO's executive director, said the 1996 vote was momentous.

ARTURO VARGAS, National Association of Latino Officials: This is probably the most historic election for Latinos since we've been tracking the levels of participation of this community.

JEFFREY KAYE: There are approximately 5,000 elected Latino officials around the country. In November, a record number of Latinos voted and in states with high Latino populations they appear to have made a difference. Latino voters contributed to rare Democratic presidential victories in Florida and Arizona, and showed their clout in scores of congressional and legislative races.

ARTURO VARGAS: In California, for example, the fact that we went from 10 Latinos in the state assembly to 14 resulting in the election of the first Latino speaker of the assembly, I think that was a monumental achievement for Latinos across the country.

JEFFREY KAYE: The selection of Democrat Cruz Bustamente as speaker of the California assembly, the second most powerful elected official in California, had symbolic, as well as emotional, impact.

JOE BACA, (D) State Assemblyman: It's a proud moment for a lot of us. I cannot describe the feeling that I have inside of me to elect the first Latino speaker in the state of California.

JEFFREY KAYE: The surge in Latino voting is based in part on the increase in new Latino citizens. In recent years mass naturalization ceremonies have been held, largely as a result of the 1986 federal law which legalized about 3 million illegal immigrants. Voter registration drives targeted new citizens.

SPOKESPERSON: And have you ever been registered to vote?

JEFFREY KAYE: In the last four years, according to the Southwest Voter Research Institute, the number of Latinos registered to vote rose nationally by more than 1.4 million. That turned out to be good news for President Clinton and Democrats, in general. This year, Clinton received 71 percent of the Latino vote, up from 55 percent in 1992. In California, where Latinos accounted for 11 percent of the vote, the shift to the Democrats was symbolized by the heady victory of Loretta Sanchez. Sanchez unseated nine-term Republican Congressman Robert Dornan, a conservative firebrand known for his bombast.

ROBERT DORNAN: He is a world-class womanizer. He is a draft dodger.

JEFFREY KAYE: Loretta Sanchez.

JEFFREY KAYE: Just mention of her name brings glee to the face of Art Torres, chair of the California Democratic Party.

ART TORRES, Chair, California Democratic Party: Clearly, we had the help in 1996 of the Republican Party and their leadership. And we owe a letter of thanks to Pete Wilson and Newt Gingrich and all the Republican leaders who really put the Latino community in a very defensive position by creating fear, by creating animosity, by essentially removing any kind of welcome mat to America, and waking my community up to realize wait a minute, we know what's at stake here, we'd better participate.

ARTURO VARGAS: I think Republican efforts to get the Latino vote peaked in ‘88 and has been dwindling since then.

JEFFREY KAYE: And the reason for the dwindling is--

ARTURO VARGAS: I think the reason for the dwindling is that the Republican Party's policies have become much more anti-Latino and a little too strident in its rhetoric for the vast number of Latino voters.

JEFFREY KAYE: In 1994 in California, just as vast numbers of Latinos were joining the electorate, many were becoming politically galvanized by Proposition 187. That was the Republican-supported measure to cut benefits to illegal immigrants.

ARTURO VARGAS: What the Republican Party has also done is to turn the enemy in 1996 America as being the immigrant. And they've done that very effectively using broadcast media.

ANNOUNCER: They keep coming--2 million illegal immigrants.

ARTURO VARGAS: The kind of ads we saw both in ‘94 and ‘96 that were designed to secure the re-election of Pete Wilson in ‘94--

JEFFREY KAYE: That's the California governor.

ARTURO VARGAS: That's the California governor. And to try to get Dole to win the California race for the presidency in the general election, the advertisements for the Republican Party were very, very offensive to Latinos.

JEFFREY KAYE: Advertising executive Ray Durazo agrees. Durazo is a Republican, but he accuses his party of pandering to immigrant bashers.

RAY DURAZO, Advertising Executive: I am an American first but I'm also attached to my culture, my heritage, my history, and I can feel compassion for--I can empathize with those people who are coming across the border today because my parents did it fifty, sixty, a hundred years ago, and I know their struggles, and I know that they were good people when they came here.

JOHN HERRINGTON, Chair, California Republican Party: I will tell you that the Republicans are not anti-immigrant, and they are not racist.

JEFFREY KAYE: John Herrington, chair of the California Republican Party, says the GOP message was misunderstood by Latino voters.

JOHN HERRINGTON: I think we need to get our message out better. Our message is a very good message for the Hispanic and Latino communities in that we are talking about more individual freedom, better family values, religious base, strong and loving families, lower taxes. That's our message, and we don't need to change our message because it's going to appeal to that group. What you may have run into is a strong, strong after effect of all that misleading advertising, painting Republicans as ogres, that the Democrats did.

RAY DURAZO: The great irony here is that the principles of the Republican Party historically--i.e., hard work, individual responsibility, don't depend on government, the value of the free enterprise system--all those principles are near and dear to the hearts of most Hispanics. And yet, the great irony here is that here is a party, either consciously or unconsciously, and I'm afraid the case here is consciously, alienating the very group of people whom I think most naturally identifies with their principles.

JEFFREY KAYE: The political principles of Latino officials run the gamut.

CRUZ BUSTAMENTE, Speaker, California Assembly: I want to see the floor become a battleground of ideas, good ideas.

JEFFREY KAYE: California assembly speaker Bustamente is a political moderate. Congresswoman-elect Sanchez, who was treated as a conquering hero at the NALEAO reception, is also considered a mainstream Democrat. She feels Latino issues cannot be pigeon-holed.

REP.-ELECT LORETTA SANCHEZ, (D) California: In my opinion there is not "just" a Latino agenda. You have a good agenda about jobs, you have a good agenda about education, it's a Latino agenda, like anybody else's.

JEFFREY KAYE: Arturo Vargas says Latino officials have long shown concern for immigration and bilingual education. He now sees a growing focus on urban issues in general.

ARTURO VARGAS: I think what we're going to start to see is perhaps a renewed interest in urban communities. Latinos are the most urban, urbanized community, much more urbanized than Anglos or blacks or Asians in this country, and maybe a new attention to public schools. Those are where Latinos--I mean, those are the issues for Latinos.

JEFFREY KAYE: As to their voting habits, Vargas cautions that Democrats should not take Latinos for granted. He expects Republicans will pick up Latino support, particularly if immigration recedes as a political issue.

JIM LEHRER: Still to come on the NewsHour tonight, the recorded words of Richard Nixon and a David Gergen dialogue.

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