Bernie loves the Hispanics!

UPDATED, 1/21/16, 10:45 AM:  This list of unknowns, courtesy of PolitiFact's Riley Snyder, is the "highly respected" Latino steering committee. A picture is worth a...media hit, I guess.

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When Hillary Clinton's campaign came to Nevada in the spring of 2015, when it hired a well-connected Latina to helm her campaign here and when the candidate arrived to get to the left of the president on immigration reform, the message was clear: I own the Latino vote.

Later in the year, realizing that he needed more than white people to win, Bernie Sanders began talking about immigration reform. Two weeks ago, Sanders told me on "Ralston Live" how important the Hispanic vote is and all but acknowledged that was why he had suggested a change to the Obama Administration's deportation policy. And now, with the Nevada caucus a month away, Berne REALLY loves Hispanics.

Subtle it ain't.

To wit:

►Ex-Assemblywoman Lucy Flores, a one-time Latina rising star who went supernova in the 2014 lieutenant governor's race, endorsed Sanders in a move more relevant to her flagging congressional hopes.

Three Spanish-language newspapers nobody has heard of, including an ad mag and an online news aggregator, endorsed Sanders. (The endorsements prompted a social media attack from the publisher of a well-known Spanish-language newspaper, El Tiempo.)

On Thursday, Sanders plans to announce a "Nevada Latino Steering Committee" filled with "a group of highly respected community leaders." This, I doubt.

This tells me two things:

1. Sanders really believes Nevada is in play, which may be right depending on what happens in Iowa and New Hampshire.

2. The Vermont senator who prides himself on being the populist anti-politician can shamelessly play politics, almost as well as his opponent.

This isn't real Hispanic support; it's manufactured. But if the media buy it and create the perception....

 

 

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