LA mayor: More Hispanics for Obama in 2012

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CHARLOTTE, N.C., Sept. 2 (UPI) -- Democratic National Convention Chairman and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa predicted Sunday President Obama will get 70 percent of the Hispanic vote.

In 2008, Obama received 67 percent of the Hispanic vote, while Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., got 31 percent. In an interview on Fox News Sunday in Charlotte, N.C., Villaraigosa said he thinks that number will increase this year for Obama.

"I think it's going to be closer to 70 percent. It's somewhere between 67 and 70. I just don't see them getting many, much more beyond that," the Mexican-American said.

The mayor said just because two Hispanic politicians -- Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez -- spoke at the Republican National Convention last week, doesn't mean Hispanics will vote for Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney.

"They didn't just have Susana Martinez and Marco Rubio. They also had Kris Kobach, the author of the Alabama and Arizona [immigration] laws. They trotted out [Maricopa County, Ariz., Sheriff Joe Arpaio]. They were prominently there as well," Villaraigosa said.

"They are going to repeal the Affordable Care Act [and] just so you understand, 9 million of the 32 million people that will qualify for the Affordable Care Act are Latinos," he added.