The Clintons, it has been shown time-and-time again, will go to any lengths, travel to any place, and either cry or laugh as needed, all in the quest to achieve their political ambitions.

If it means eating at King Taco in East Los Angeles, hey, that’s not asking much. Hillary munched on a couple of beef tacos last week as she was escorted around East LA by the city’s mayor, Antonio Villaraigosa, who ordered her the eats in SPANISH, (Tancredo, issue a Balkanization of America alert!). Yep, it’s time to pursue the much talked about Latino vote as the election season swings to states with lots of Americans who order Mexican plates at their favorite diners while crying over yet another Dallas Cowboy playoff loss.

The Clintons are insanely popular with Hispanics for reasons I don’t fully comprehend other than Latinos tend to vote Democratic and Bill and Hill are the biggest party icons at the moment. Bill has never been referred to as “the first Mexican president,” but he has been called “the first black president” a bunch of times because he’s a southern boy who has always had a comfortable rapport with African-Americans.

Still, no doubting the magic the Clintons have over Hispanics. A New York Times story on Saturday reported that a LA rally “packed with Hispanic women shrieked at seeing Mrs. Clinton.” They didn’t just clap. They shrieked. That may be, says one Las Vegas political leader, because as a woman Hillary packs a strong respect in the Hispanic community.

“The Hispanic community is very family oriented, and we respect our mothers,” said Ruben Kihuen, a Democratic assemblyman from Las Vegas. “A lot of middle-aged women see her, (Hillary), as a mother, a head of the household, and they can identify with this.”

Wow, just one more reason for Latinos to go ga-ga over the Clintons. Hillary reminds us of our mothers? Whoa, that’s too deep for me. And, besides, Hillary didn’t make me arroz-con-pollo as a kid, so I ain’t buying that one.

So, against this considerable cultural and political backdrop what chance does a cool, elegant African-American politician, (Barack Obama), have against The Clinton Machine? Probably, not a lot, but the dude is trying. Obama has racked up some important endorsements of his own such as Gloria Romero, a Democrat from East LA, and the state Senate majority leader, who knows her camp has a ways to go before denting the Clinton appeal in Latino circles.

What will it take? Obama is too cool to be seen as our Dad the way Hillary has supposedly taken over the motherly role, (can that be right because I still don’t get it). Romero is sure of what won’t work.

“I don’t think it’s eating tacos,” Romero said in the NY Times, (that’s a dig at Hillary in case you missed it). “We need to address what unites us.”

And what about the aspect of Obama, as a major presidential candidate who happens to be African-American, pursuing the Latino vote? The NY Times just came right out and asked that question in a page 1 story today, and it drew mixed reviews.

Some Hispanics, including a Natasha Carrillo, 20, of Los Angeles, were blunt in their assessments.

“Many Latinos are not ready for a person of color,” Carrillo told the Times. “I don’t think many Latinos will vote for Obama.”

That would be sad and unfortuanate and wouldn’t say much for Latinos, or any other group of Americans, for that matter, to decline to vote for someone because of their skin color or his or her last name. But that’s the reality, to some degree, and we all know it. The Clinton-Obama race is a historic matchup, the first of many such races in U.S. political history as America becomes more diverse and tolerant. Perhaps, and hopefully, this matchup will will bring down some more racial and cultural barriers along the way as Americans size up their political leaders.

For all of the dust-up of recent days between the Clinton and Obama camps over the legacy of Martin Luther King and the civil rights era, NY Times columnist David Brooks made an important point today.

“This dispute is going to be settled by the rising, and so far ignored, minority group,” Brooks wrote. “For all the current fighting, it’ll be Latinos who end up determining who gets the (Democratic) nomination.”

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