The Obama and McCain campaigns are battling for Hispanic votes as they try to win this important battleground state. But the campaigns can't wage a one-size-fits-all battle to attract Hispanic voters, who come in all ideological shapes and sizes.

"What you have is a rather diverse Hispanic component," said Stetson University political science professor T. Wayne Bailey. Cubans have traditionally been allied with the Republican Party; Puerto Ricans, numerous in Deltona, trend toward the Democratic Party, Bailey said. Mexicans have been strongly Democratic, but many are undocumented and cannot vote, Bailey said. And while McCain, at one point, had pushed for immigration reform for 12 million illegal immigrants, that's not a risk-free position, Bailey said.

"I think that McCain is in something of a dilemma; if he showcases his earlier position on immigration, it will tend to alienate his base, which has a strong anti-immigrant bias," Bailey said. "For Obama, I don't think he has that problem and I think probably his campaign is much more openly plowing that field right now."

Campaigning for Hispanic vote not a 1-size-fits-all battle By Frank Fernandez, Daytona Beach News-Journal, 9/22/08