| The cards were laid upon the table, according to one of the participants. The Hispanic leaders said they expected at least two Latinos to be named to an Obama Cabinet — meeting the standard set by President-elect Bill Clinton in 1992 — but preferred three. Of course, they also wanted sub-Cabinet-level posts.
In return, Obama needed assurances that Hispanics — who had overwhelmingly voted for Clinton during the Democratic primaries — would be mobilized in large enough numbers to make him the winner in the battleground states of Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico and Florida.
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Florida Hispanics voted 57 percent-42 percent for Obama, 1 percentage point more than they gave President Bush in 2004. In Colorado, Obama’s Latino margin was 73-27, in Nevada it was 76-22 and in New Mexico, 69 percent of Hispanics backed Obama versus 30 percent for McCain, according to news media exit polls.
Latinos in Virginia, another key state, also picked Obama by a 2-1 margin. Nationally, only 30 percent of Hispanics backed McCain, 10 points lower than for Bush in the last election.
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The president-elect has not made any firm commitments. During a speech to the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute in September, he asked for their policy ideas and their votes and added, "When I’m president, I'll be asking many of you to serve at every level of government."
Cecilia Munoz, vice president of National Council of La Raza, said, "It's a foregone conclusion that we should be at the table for policy debates and in a position of authority," because Hispanics are affected by major issues facing all voters. Latinos will be prominent in an Obama administration "just as we would be in any administration moving forward," she added.
But as the first African-American elected to the presidency, Obama is expected to face enormous pressures from various interests — women, Asian-Americans, Latinos and especially African-Americans — for top positions in his administration.
History also has taught Latinos to take nothing for granted.
In 1964, President Johnson’s top adviser, Jack Valenti, cut down a group of Latinos seeking presidential appointments. "You have one percent of the vote, so you have one percent of my attention," Raul Yzaguirre recalled Valenti saying. Yzaguirre is the past president of National Council of La Raza and head of Arizona State University’s Center for Community Development and Civil Rights.
In 1992, Bill Clinton promised during his campaign "to give you an administration that looks like America." But when a delegation of Hispanic leaders met with his transition chairman, Vernon Jordan, he curtly noted that Latinos had not struggled for civil rights as blacks had, and they would "have to stand in line," attendees later recalled.
No one expects that to happen now. As Tuesday’s election results reflected, times have changed. Latino civil rights groups estimate that at least 10 million Hispanics voted Tuesday, up 32 percent from 2004.
Any diminishment of the Hispanic presence in today’s society and politics "would be a colossal mistake," said Arturo Vargas, executive director of National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials. "Latinos have demonstrated they can have an impact."
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In Clinton's initial round of appointments to Cabinet and sub-Cabinet positions, Hispanics made up 6 percent. In 2001, 8 percent of Bush's nominees were Hispanic, Light said.
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