Obama, McCain spar for Latino vote

0 Comments | AFP, June, 2008

WASHINGTON (AFP) — Republican presidential hopeful John McCain and Democratic rival Barack Obama called for immigration reform on Saturday as they courted America's ever-growing Latino voting population.

The candidates spoke separately to a Hispanic group in Washington about the need for comprehensive reform to bring the country's 12 million illegal immigrants out of the shadows.

McCain and Obama both backed measures that were blocked by hardline Republicans in Congress that would have given undocumented foreign workers a path toward citizenship.

But McCain, who had championed the reform bill despite opposition within his own party, has since said his focus was now to secure America's porous border with Mexico first.

"We will not succeed in the...