DEM Presidential Candidates to NALEO on June 30 in Orlando; GOP IGNORES Latinos

Democratic Presidential Contenders to Address Latino Issues at NALEO Candidate Forum June 30.
Candidates to Meet in Florida at Nation's Latino Political Convention
Los Angeles, CA -The Democratic contenders in the 2008 presidential campaign will participate in a candidate forum hosted by the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) in Orlando, Florida on June 30, the organization announced today.

However, All of the Republican presidential contenders have turned down an invitation to speak .

The participating candidates will include, in alphabetical order, Senator Joe Biden (DE), Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (NY), Senator Chris Dodd (CT), former Senator John Edwards (NC), Representative Dennis Kucinich (OH), Senator Barack Obama (IL) and Governor Bill Richardson (NM).

NALEO extended identical invitations to the Republican presidential candidates to participate in a separate forum. All have declined to date.

The forum is part of the organization’s 24th Annual Conference, which will bring together nearly 1,000 Latino leaders from across the nation with leading experts to discuss a wide range of issues including education, home ownership, health care, climate change, immigration and the 2008 election outlook. The conference will be held June 28-30 at the Contemporary Resort at Walt Disney World. A complete conference agenda and other information can be found on the NALEO homepage at www.naleo.org.

Last November saw the highest Latino turnout on record for a midterm election. The continuing growth of Latino participation, combined with the large Latino population in the earliest states in the new primary calendar, suggest that the community will play a decisive role in selecting the next President of the United States.

“The issues that concern the Latino community are going to be paramount in future U.S. elections,” said NALEO President John Bueno. “We’re looking forward to offering this platform for the candidates to engage the community on the wide range of matters we care about.”

Each candidate will be questioned by NALEO members during the two-hour moderated forum. The time will be equally divided among the candidates.