If Battleground States’ Vote Close Hispanic Participation Will be Important
By Virginia Torres

 Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama leads the GOP’s John McCain in four battleground states, according to a June 26  poll conducted by Quinnipiac University, the Wall Street Journal and the WashingtonPost.com.

At a news conference at the National Press Club, Peter Brown and Clay Richards, assistant directors at Quinnipiac University, said Obama leads McCain among likely voters in Colorado 49%-44%, Michigan 48%-42%, Minnesota 54%-37% and Wisconsin 52%-39%.

The Democratic candidate is favored 62% -  36% by Hispanic voters in Colorado.

Latinos comprise about 8.8% of the state’s electorate, according to the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials Educational Fund.

According to Brown, those states were chosen based on their size, number of electoral votes and key roles in past elections.

Brown said that if races in any of those states  are close, the Hispanic vote will be very important. He added that it will not be a decisive factor if Obama maintains the leads he is polling currently.