Hillary Counting on Hispanics in Texas

By Indira Lakshmanan

Feb. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Next to her gold medallion of the Virgin of Guadalupe, Rosa Rosales of San Antonio wears a button for the woman she considers another patron of Mexican-Americans: Hillary Clinton.

The New York senator needs to prevail in the March 4 primary in Texas, the second most-populous and delegate-rich state in the nation, to salvage her dwindling chances of becoming the Democratic presidential nominee. Her victory hinges on winning a substantial majority of Hispanics, who are likely to account for about 35 percent of the Democratic primary electorate, Latino polling experts said.

The front-runner, Illinois Senator Barack Obama, is campaigning to cut into her base, with some success. To hold him off, Clinton probably needs to replicate her performance in the Feb. 5 primary in California, another state with a large Hispanic population, where she carried 71 percent of those voters, according to exit polls.

Clinton, 60, ``has to keep her base and expand her base or she loses,'' said Lydia Camarillo, vice president of Southwest Voters Registration Education Project, a San Antonio-based nonprofit group. ``Hispanics are finally in the driver's seat.''