Common Hispanic remark: "I can't vote for a black man."

From The Wall Street Journal:

Sen. Hillary Clinton is counting on Latino voters to play a decisive role as several big states vote Feb. 5. Sen. Barack Obama is battling to overcome Sen. Clinton's lead and decades of hostility between Latinos and African-Americans in some major cities.

The Hispanic vote is huge in many of the states voting Feb. 5. California is the biggest prize both in overall size and in the impact of the Hispanic vote. Hispanics make up 22.8% of the eligible voters in California . . . .

Polls show Latinos overwhelmingly backing Mrs. Clinton.

Mr. Obama's candidacy is exposing the long-simmering hostility between blacks and Latinos in some neighborhoods and in politics.

Michele Martinez, a Latino city councilor in Santa Ana, a major Hispanic city in southern California, says when she goes out to canvass for Mr. Obama one of the things she hears is, "I can't vote for a black man," sometimes accompanied by a racial slur.