BROWNSVILLE, TEXAS — With the Democratic presidential race about to enter another crucial phase of voting, Barack Obama has launched a newly aggressive strategy to undermine two pillars of support for rival Hillary Rodham Clinton: Latinos and working-class white voters.
Each is an important constituency in major March 4 primaries -- Latinos in Texas and blue-collar workers in Ohio -- which many believe Clinton must win to keep her White House hopes alive.
In Ohio, Obama backers are courting local union leaders and members with promises that the Illinois senator will change U.S. trade policies enacted by Clinton's husband, and which the unions blame for severe job losses.
In Texas, Obama has launched a new effort to introduce himself to Latino voters as someone who understands their challenges, thanks to his background of attending college on a scholarship and working with churches as a community organizer.
Obama has also launched a new organizing campaign in the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas. One piece of that effort could be glimpsed at a Saturday-night celebration of a new Obama office in downtown Brownsville, about half a mile from the Mexican border. It drew about 200 supporters, a noteworthy crowd, the campaign said, for an event not attended by the candidate.
Latinos and blue-collar whites were largely elusive for Obama in the primaries and caucuses held so far. Clinton strategists believe the two groups form a natural base of voters for her that will carry her to victories in delegate-rich Ohio and Texas.
But exit polls from some of the most recent voting states, such as Virginia and Maryland, show that Obama has begun to narrow the gap not only with Latinos but with lower-income whites, who have been among Clinton's most loyal backers.
Youth appeal crucial
Now, the Obama strategy is to peel away as much of that base as possible, helping him to either win Ohio and Texas outright or at least split the states' delegations to the national nominating convention.
"This is, or it was, Clinton country," said Michael Rodriguez, 40, a Brownsville lawyer who helped open the Obama office here and now serves on the campaign's local steering committee. "We're finding people who were Clinton supporters and making them Obama supporters."
In going after both groups, Obama's appeal to younger Americans is proving important.
