AP News, November 17th, 2007
Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Rodham Clinton on Saturday accepted the endorsement from a 230,000-member union and appeared at a rally with a young Hispanic lawmaker who promised her ground support in the early caucus state.
After addressing a gathering of sheet metal, air, rail and transportation workers for the soon-to-be-merged SMART union, Clinton spoke at a rally at a high school in a largely Hispanic district of North Las Vegas, with the support of the first Hispanic immigrant elected to the Nevada legislature, Assemblyman Ruben Kihuen.
"We wanted to show the diversity of America and I'm proud to have so much Latino support," Clinton said at Rancho High School.
Kihuen, a 27-year-old freshman lawmaker elected a year ago, hinted at the organizational muscle he would lend Clinton, declaring he would round up people for door-to-door canvassing immediately after the rally. He spoke in Spanish and English to the crowd of several hundred.
One attendee, 40-year-old government worker Miriam Montes, said she was not bothered by Clinton's new, unequivocal opposition to giving driver's licenses to illegal immigrants. "My family came here legally. They worked hard to get to what they needed to get. Why should illegals get it for free?" Montes said.
While she was still undecided, the Las Vegas resident said Hispanic voters would strongly consider Kihuen's recent endorsement of Clinton. "It's going to open up the eyes of the Latin community," Montes said.
SMART, the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers, will merge the Sheet Metal Workers' International Association and the United Transportation Union in January.
