References:

New America Foundation, La Diferencia

But much has changed in Latino America in the past decade--particularly in Texas, California and Florida, the big Electoral College states where the Latino vote has become both sizable enough and potent enough to swing elections. What worked in the past may not work as well this time around.

The American Prospect, The Rising Latino Tide

In Florida and Texas, as in California, the immigrant influx is creating a Democratic future (if not necessarily a Democratic present). "When I go door-to-door, and they open it up, they don't really listen to me," says Patrick Vilar, a fresh-faced young Democrat who is seeking election to the Florida House of Representatives this November in a district that, the conventional wisdom says, is Cuban, Republican and, for a Democrat, a fool's errand. "They read down the piece until they come to the line, 'Colombian Bar Association,'" he says. "That stops them. They look up and say, 'You're Colombian?' Then we start speaking in Spanish. It's a match."

alternet, Why Republicans Will Cave on Immigration Reform

Never mind the GOP's anti-immigrant rhetoric; they need Latino voting power to win future elections.
Judging from the cold shoulder conservative Republicans gave President Bush when he called for a humane, balanced immigration reform law in a recent speech in Orange County, Calif., one would think these hardliners won't budge from their demand for a crackdown on illegal immigration. But eventually, most of them will.