Latinos are the fastest-growing racial/ethnic group in the country and in many metropolitan areas, they are now a numerical majority. With that rise in population size also comes more political clout and both the major political parties are vying for the “Latino vote.” As New American Media reports, both parties are putting forth their own arguments on how they are better at representing issues that Latinos care about:

President George W. Bush put the Latino vote in play for Republicans when he captured about 40 percent of the Latino vote in his first presidential campaign. Although that percentage dipped a bit in his re-election campaign, Republicans saw a chance to chip away at what had been thought of as a safe Democratic base.

This year’s contentious immigration reform efforts pitted a Republican administration against its conservative Republican base, and appears to have given Democrats a play at a greater share of Latino votes. . . .

The candidacy of New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, the only Latino, will also drive more Latinos to the polls, said Reid and Becerra. Republicans haven’t helped their cause by ignoring invitations to speak at conferences sponsored by major Latino organizations like the National Council of La Raza or debates organized by Univision, the country’s largest Spanish-language television network. . . .

But Republican strategist Alex Burgos believes it is wrong for Democrats to count their Latino votes so soon. “Democrats and others have long been dismissing the Republican Party’s progress with Hispanic voters,” said Burgos. “The Republican Party’s values of stronger families, a stronger economy, and a stronger military have great appeal to the Hispanic community as we’ve seen with Ronald Reagan’s and President Bush’s electoral successes.”

Burgos credits Reagan for putting the Latino vote into play for Republicans. Plus, he added, Democrats are overlooking the fact that millions of Latinos are small business owners who favor less government regulation and better access to overseas markets, issues that Republicans tout.

The article goes on to note that most political observers predict that as things stand right now, Republicans are more likely to lose Latino votes than Democrats, based largely on Republicans’ heavy-handed approach to addressing the illegal immigration issue.

My Five Colleges colleague Carleen Basler at Amherst College has done in-depth research on this particular issue and provides some very interesting personal and sociological insights on the ways in which Latino Americans and Mexican Americans in particular are personally drawn to President Bush, but also the ways in which his party is beginning to lose support among the Latino community.

I’m wondering if any of you have seen or heard any kind of trend on how Latino Americans are likely to vote in 2008. Which party do you think better represents the issues that Latino Americans care most about?