Republican Latinos Vote "No" on Romney

"After his narrow victory in Iowa and resounding win in New Hampshire, Mitt Romney may well be on his way to locking up the Republican nomination before the primary is even a month old. But the damage that the GOP fight has done to his chances of winning the general election may prove to be severe if he cannot convince Latino voters to give him another shot.  While Romney’s efforts to woo his party’s conservative voters have clearly helped him in the two contests thus far, the former Massachusetts governor has veered far to the right on the issue that most affects Latinos: immigration.  Only days before the Iowa caucuses, for instance, Romney said that as president he would veto the DREAM Act, a bill that would provide a path to citizenship for some undocumented children of immigrants who attend college or serve in the military. The fall-out from Latinos was immediate. The next day I asked Juan Rodriguez, a Republican businessman in Des Moines, if he would back Romney. Rodriguez didn’t hesitate in his response.  “I wouldn’t vote for Romney because he doesn’t support immigration reform or the DREAM Act,” he said. “My business depends on Hispanics basically, and if there’s no immigration reform we are going to be very affected. Not just me, but all the businesses that, like us, depend on the Latino community.”" - Matthew Jaffe, Jan. 16, 2012.