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Sandino Martinez | http://www.HispanicBusiness.com

The Democratic governor of New Mexico, Bill Richardson, said here Thursday that Hispanics could make the difference in the November elections and predicted that the candidate who wins Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, Florida and his own southwestern state will end up in the White House.

“The elections are being defined in those four states and Florida,” Richardson told the annual assembly of one of the most potent U.S. Hispanic organizations, the National Association of Latino Elected Officials, or NALEO.

Richardson said Florida will be crucial in the Nov. 2 election, mirroring the 2000 face-off.

The governor called on “Latinos, especially the youths, to go out and recruit Hispanic voters. They have to know that we can do it.”

A report presented by NALEO predicted that close to 7 million Hispanics will vote in the presidential election, about 1 million more than in 2000.

The report estimated that 838,000 Hispanics will vote in Florida, 160,000 more than in 2000. 

The report estimated that 838,000 Hispanics will vote in Florida, 160,000 more than in 2000.

In Arizona alone, 317,000 Hispanics are expected to cast ballots, compared to the 247,000 that did so four years ago.

As for Richardson’s home state of New Mexico, the study predicted that 9,000 more Hispanics will vote in this year’s presidential election than in the last one, when 191,000 Latinos turned out to the polls.

In Colorado, the NALEO report found 8,000 more Latinos are likely to vote this November than in 2000, when 158,000 Hispanics cast ballots.

The report did not include predictions about Nevada, but Richardson said Las Vegas has the fastest-growing Hispanic community in the country.

Richardson did not address during his talk the possibility of being the running mate of Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry.

He noted that only one of the 50 U.S. governors is Hispanic, referring to himself, and that Latinos have no representation in the Senate.

However, Richardson predicted that Colorado Attorney General Ken Salazar will win a seat in the Senate in the next elections.

In addition to Salazar, who is running in the Democratic primaries, Mel Martinez, former housing secretary in George W. Bush’s administration, is a Republican Senate candidate in Florida.

According to Richardson, immigration “is not the only matter that concerns Hispanics,” who he said were also worried about jobs, the economy and the war in Iraq.

The 21st annual NALEO conference, which ends Saturday, will close with an address from Kerry, whose speech will focus on his policy toward Latin America.

NALEO, which comprises more than 6,000 Hispanic political leaders across the country, has invited Kerry and other high-ranking government officials to outline their plans to improve the quality of life for the approximately 40 million Latinos living in the United States.

Arturo Vargas, executive director of NALEO, urged candidates out to win the Hispanic vote to “go beyond a few phrases in Spanish” and include strategies to respond to the concerns of the Latino electorate.