McCain seeking more Hispanic support

AUSTIN, Texas, Sept. 1 (UPI) -- Campaigners for likely Republican U.S. presidential nominee John McCain say they're reaching out to Hispanic voters, a group polls indicate he's missing.

August polls released by the Gallup Organization and the Pew Hispanic Center indicated Democratic opponent Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., holds a wide lead over the U.S. senator from Arizona among U.S. Hispanics. But a spokeswoman says that will turn around, the Austin (Texas) American-Statesman reported Monday.

"Senator McCain has been fighting for the issues Latinos care about for over two decades … . He is a true friend of the Latino community," Hessy Fernandez, McCain's spokeswoman for Hispanic media, told the newspaper.

Fernandez said the McCain campaign's goal is to secure more than 45 percent of the Hispanic vote nationwide. She added that as McCain spends more time with Latinos at town hall meetings and gains more endorsements from community leaders, his standing among them will rise, the American-Statesman reported.