LAS VEGAS -- Latinos are expected to play a huge role in the fight for the White House, especially in the battleground states such as Nevada.
Presidential candidates are unveiling new television and radio ads to lure in Latino voters, including small business owners. The question is whether those ads will make a difference by the general election in November.
President Barack Obama and Republican Mitt Romney are targeting the Spanish speaking audience with ads in their native tongue. In the past decade, that population has increased by more than 80 percent.
The president is focusing on first-hand accounts of how his policies are impacting people. While Romney targets small businesses.
"I think he can win the vote," said Cecilia Aldana who works at the Guadalupe Medical Center. She believes Romney has a chance in Nevada. Latinos are starting up businesses three times the pace of their counterparts and Aldana says that will play in favor of Romney. She says President Obama's healthcare legislation is hurting the medical center.
"If I make a change to give them a better policy, my policy will go up 27 percent," she said.
Not everyone agrees, Andres Ramirez supports President Obama and says Romney doesn't appeal to most Latinos.
"He spent a large portion of his primary election alienating and demogauging Hispanics on immigration, on English only, on birthright citizenship and a variety of other issues," said Andres Ramirez, The Ramirez Group.
Groups like Nevada Hispanics have formed to get the community engaged and to the polls. Hispanic voters are expected to account for 20 percent of the vote.
"I think its going to be a very very difficult task for Mitt Romney to increase his percentage of Latino support in Nevada. It's not impossible but likely improbable," Ramirez said.
In 2008, nearly seven out of every 10 Latinos voted for for then Senator Obama. Republican strategists say if Romney picks a Latino running mate, it would help bridge the huge gap. They say he needs about 40 percent of the Latino vote to have a chance at winning the White House.
