Obama makes rare presidential visit to Puerto Rico with eye on growing voting se

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Obama makes rare presidential visit to Puerto Rico with eye on growing voting

segment in US

By Jim Kuhnhenn, The Associated Press | The Canadian Press – 1 hour 11 minutes

ago

MIAMI - President Barack Obama is making a rare presidential visit to Puerto

Rico, the U.S. island territory, with a firm eye on Puerto Ricans back on the

mainland who could help him win at least one key state during his re-election

campaign next year.

About 4.6 million Puerto Ricans live on the mainland, boosting a fast-growing

Hispanic population that is becoming increasingly important in American

politics.

The first official visit to the island by a president in 50 years caps a two-day

trip that took Obama to two crucial political battlegrounds — North Carolina and

Florida — as he solidified his political outreach and defended his economic

record against sweeping attacks from potential Republican foes.

Addressing donors at three Miami fundraisers Monday evening, Obama hit a

recurrent theme: " Big changes don't happen overnight " and, " The reason we're

here today is because our work is not done. "

By venturing into Puerto Rico, Obama is courting a population that is

concentrated in the New York region but that also has established a foothold in

Florida, where about 841,000 Puerto Ricans live, according to the 2010 census.

People living in Puerto Rico can only vote in presidential primaries.

While there, Obama will make brief remarks upon arrival in San , meet with

the island's Republican governor, Fortuno, and attend another fundraiser.

About 20 pro-independence demonstrators kept an all-night vigil at a colonial

fort in San to protest Obama's visit. They want the release of three Puerto

Rican nationalists imprisoned in the U.S.

By setting foot on the island, Obama inevitably also steps into the decades-old

debate over its status as a territory. Fortuno supports statehood. Others prefer

the existing status, while a small but vocal minority in Puerto Rico favours

independence. Island residents have voted consistently to maintain ties to the

U.S.

While administration officials said the visit gives Obama a chance to interact

with Puerto Ricans, he was only spending about five hours on the island.

Obama has stayed neutral on the status question and supports a referendum to

resolve it. In an interview with The Associated Press, Fortuno said he intends

for the question to be put to the island's voters before his term ends in

December 2012.

That schedule follows a timetable proposed by a presidential task force. If the

island's political leaders can't agree on a process, however, the president and

Congress could then weigh in with legislation setting down requirements on how

to resolve Puerto Rico's status.

The recession hit Puerto Rico harder than the mainland, with unemployment rising

to nearly 17 per cent. It had dropped to 16.2 per cent in April.

Fortuno said the economy is the biggest issue among islanders. And because they

are U.S. citizens, immigration is not as potent a political subject as it is

with other Hispanic groups.

Still, he said, " Many issues cut across the different subgroups within the

Hispanic community. "

The governor said he welcomed the attention his island is getting and credited a

growing regard among politicians for the Hispanic vote.

" There is a heightened level of awareness about the importance of the Latino

vote that hadn't existed for a while, " he said.

He noted that both Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton courted the island during

their intense contest for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008.

" I wouldn't be surprised if the Republican candidates would do the same next

year, " he said.