It takes so little to be the leading GOPer among would-be Latino voters

GINGRICH: Number 1 among Latinos?

Insofar as Newt Gingrich goes, I have to admit his people have created a website that tries to portray a semi-positive image of the growing Latino population of this nation.

Which isn’t much to offer up. Yet when one considers just how despicable many of the other candidates in the Republican presidential candidate field truly are, it becomes blatantly obvious why Gingrich can be perceived as the “leader” of the Latino pack.

SO I WASN’T surprised to learn that CNN reported Monday about how the Somos Republicans group officially endorsed Gingrich – hoping maybe to give him a jolt that could close the four-point gap that now supposedly exists between Gingrich and Mitt Romney in the upcoming South Carolina primary.

Somos Republicans is a group that is trying to promote the idea of Latinos joining the GOP in larger numbers – a noble, if not extremely difficult, goal.

Personally, I found it telling that Somos Republicans’ previous leader quit the group and now calls herself a Libertarian – claiming that the modern-day incarnation of the Republican Party is just too hostile toward Latinos.

Go through the rhetoric being used by the candidates who wish to challenge Barack Obama in the November general election, and they all have their moments when they make it clear that they are more interested in appealing to the conservative ideologue masses who would want to use Latinos as a political punching bag.

SO GETTING AN endorsement for Gingrich is merely a matter if him going out of his way to avoid saying something so blatantly stupid that it would make it impossible to have a straight face while backing him.

That truly is sad when you think about it. Latinos who feel compelled to be Republicans have to look for the candidate who expresses the least amount of disgust for our presence in this country.

And people seriously wonder why most Latinos are likely to cast their ballots for Obama – even though his record during a first term in office has been one more of apathy than anything else when it comes to issues of concern to the one-sixth of the U.S. population with ethnic origins in Latin American nations. Apathy versus token interest, as opposed to outright outrage! What a “buffet” of political dishes to pick from.

Not exactly the most joyous of election cycles for the Latino electorate. Which is why I already have a headache – one not likely to go away until Nov. 7 (if ever).

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