By: Politico

WASHINGTON — In her first public appearance since folding her presidential campaign, Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton said Latino voters, who favored her in the primaries, now need to unite and vote her former rival into the White House.

“Every issue [the Latino community] is fighting for is really at risk. We cannot afford four more years of the same,” she told the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials’ 25th annual conference on Thursday. “We have to be determined to chart a new course and we cannot do that without electing [Sen. Barack] Obama as president.”

Latino voters came out in never-before-seen numbers in the primaries and caucuses to support the New York senator, sometimes tipping the scale for her in hotly contested states like Texas.

Of the total Democratic Latino primary vote, Clinton won 63 percent to Obama’s 35 percent, according to the Pew Hispanic Center.

The Latino vote will be essential for Obama to win swing states, said Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.)

But Clinton’s endorsement doesn’t mean her Latino supporters will put a check mark next to Obama’s name on Election Day.

The Illinois senator still has work to do in proving himself a friend of the Latino community, said Association President Adolfo Carrion Jr.

“Sen. Clinton has been a friend, and Sen. Obama needs to be a friend, too,” he said.

The presumptive Republican nominee, Sen. John McCain of Arizona, has a strong hand in the Latino community because he fought for immigration reform with Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) last summer, Carrion said. Even though the bill died, McCain’s fight to pass the measure may hurt Obama.

“What Obama needs to do is explain his vision of America and how the Latino community is included,” Menendez said. “I believe he can and will do that.”

Clinton said she will continue to fight for the Latino community as she repeated her support for Obama.

The former rivals will be campaigning together in Unity, N.H., Friday.

Hallie D. Martin reports for Northwestern University’s Medill News Service. Medill News Service is partnering with Campus Politico for the 2008 elections.

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