South Florida Sun-Sentinel

In the weeks before the Florida primary, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani appeared as the guest of honor at a Three Kings parade in Miami. Days later, Sen. John McCain stopped by an espresso counter in Little Havana to knock back an industrial-strength Cuban coffee and meet voters. On Friday, Sen. Barack Obama treated online browsers to a Spanish-language campaign ad addressed to "cooks, construction workers and professionals," telling Hispanic viewers "You're not alone."

"It's clear we have become a very important population in this country," said Noris Brown, a Sunrise resident and native of Colombia. "There is a momentum. It's huge."

Latinos are the fastest-growing group of voters in the United States. But in Florida, where many Hispanics aren't wed to one party or the other, their support has even more weight — a swing vote in a swing state. Their influence was highlighted Friday as four Republican candidates took turns courting the Latin Builders Association, in Miami.

Come Tuesday, Brown, 48, will volunteer as a poll worker to help translate and answer last-minute questions from Hispanic voters. She's tuned into most of the presidential debates and daily cable news shows as well as Spanish-language TV stations for election coverage. And as director of the nonpartisan Hispanic American Alliance, she's mailed hundreds of fliers with information about the candidates to Hispanic voters.

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/elections/sfl-flrndlatinovote0127sbjan27,0,1217909.column

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