(April 21, 2008) The November election for president of the United States is fast approaching and never before has the Hispanic vote carried so much weight. With the race so tight, the three leading candidates are going after what may be the tie-breaker - the Latino vote. That group may determine who moves into the White House next winter. Will this translate into true political strength or remain just another political promise? En Español: EEUU Elecciones Presidenciales y el voto de los Latinos. Las elecciones para la presidencia de los EEUU se acercan, y jamás el voto hispano había tenido tanto peso en las elecciones en el país. Con la tan cerrada competencia, los tres candidatos están tras lo que parece ser el desempate, el voto de los Latinos. ¿Se traducirá este hecho en una real fuerza política o se quedará en una promesa política más? GUESTS: Andres Eugenio Jimenez University of California, Office of the President California Policy Research Center Andres Jimenez is director of the California Policy Research Center (CPRC), a University of California system-wide program that applies independent, nonpartisan scholarly research expertise to public policy issues. Jimenez has researched and written about society and politics in the United States and Mexico, U.S. race and ethnic relations, U.S. immigration policy, and US-Latin American relations. Before joining CPRC, Jimenez coordinated research programs at the Institute of International Studies and the Institute for the Study of Social Change at the University of California, Berkeley. Jimenez is a member of the Advisory Council of the Center for California Studies at California State University, Sacramento; the Executive Committee of the Center for Latino Policy Research at UC Berkeley; and the Advisory Committee of the Chicano/Latino Research Center at UC Santa Cruz. He chairs the editorial committee of the Harvard Journal of Hispanic Policy, an independent refereed research journal housed at the JFK School of Public Policy at Harvard University. Jimenez was elected to the National Policy Council for the Association of Public Policy Analysis and Management (APPAM) for the 1994-1998 term. He also served on the Advisory Board for a major RAND Corporation study of the effects of large-scale immigration on California, the Board of Directors of the International Institute of the East Bay, the Planning Committee of the California Public Policy Consortium, and the Newcomers Task Force of Contra Costa County, which he chaired. Jimenez received his BA in Politics and Latin American Studies from UC Santa Cruz, and he pursued doctoral studies in Political Science at UC Berkeley. David Campos SF police commissioner David Campos is currently a San Francisco Police Commissioner and was previously General Counsel for the San Francisco Unified School District. An immigrant from Guatemala, David graduated from Harvard Law School and Stanford University. He is also an elected member of the San Francisco Democratic County Central Committee, the governing arm of the San Francisco Democratic Party. Mark Hugo Lopez Associate Director, Pew Hispanic Center Mark Hugo Lopez is the Associate Director of the Pew Hispanic Center. Lopez received his Ph.D. in economics from Princeton University in 1996. At the Center, Lopez studies political engagement among Latinos, young Latinos and helps to coordinate the Center’s national surveys. Prior to joining the Center, Lopez served as Research Director at the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) at the University of Maryland. Through his work at CIRCLE, he has studied young people's electoral participation, the civic engagement of immigrants, young people's views of the first amendment, and the link between college attendance and civic engagement. In other work, Lopez has studied the earnings differential between U.S. born Hispanic faculty and other faculty, the impact of bilingual education programs on long-term student achievement, the returns to speaking a second language, and the neighborhood effects of immigrants on the educational achievement of natives. Lopez joined the Pew Hispanic Center in January of 2008. Raúl Danny Vargas National Chairman of the Republican National Hispanic Assembly Mr. Vargas is the founder and president of VARCom Solutions, a marketing and communications consultancy firm. Previously he served as AOL's Vice President for Latin America, where he led the company's business activities in the region. A life long Republican, he was a member of the Hispanic advisory group for former RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman and founder and chairman of a Hispanic advisory group for Congressman Frank Wolf (10th-VA). He served as coordinator for the Hispanic coalition for Senator Allen's re-election campaign and was a principal Spanish language spokesperson for the Kilgore campaign. He has advised members of Congress (House and Senate) on issues related to immigration reform, gangs, Hispanic outreach and more. He is an active member of the Fairfax County Republican Committee, the 10th District Republican Committee and is a member of the Membership Advisory Committee of the Republican Party of Virginia. A Virginia resident for nearly 15 years, he is also a leader in the community, serving on the boards of various non-profit groups helping the poor, the young and the ill lead better and more self-sufficient lives. These include the Northern Virginia Family Service, Fairfax Partnership for Youth and INOVA Hospital's Community Advisory Board. As a leader in the private sector, he holds prominent positions in various chambers of commerce, including the Virginia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and the Dulles Regional Chamber of Commerce where in July 2007 Vargas became the Chamber's chairman. He is a seven year veteran, having served in the U.S. Air Force, including five years in Panama.