La Nueva Fuerza

The most celebrated recipient of the Latino vote, Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Garden Grove), agrees. "The Latino vote is still up for grabs," says the 36-year-old financial adviser who drew on the Latino vote in her Orange County District to defeat Rep. Bob Dornan, the extreme Republican. "The Democrats have to get smart and put together a program to keep Latinos in their court. There won't always be a Prop. 187."

Sanchez typifies many things about the new Latino clout. Her party loyalty is in flux. She was a Republican until 1994, when she switched. "I didn't like the Pat Buchanan types who said a woman should be at home pregnant and in the kitchen," she says. "It also had to do with the beginnings of the anti-immigrant movement."

Sanchez is a first-generation child of immigrants. Her parents came here from Mexico 40 years ago, but only naturalized and started voting this year -- out of reaction to the anti-immigrant rhetoric, she says.

And like many new Latino voters, she does not hold to liberal dicta. "I am a conservative Democrat," she says.

Some more left-leaning circles in the community are pushing for things like another immigration amnesty and a $7 minimum wage. Asked about such bold strokes, most of the architects and elected beneficiaries of the new voter surge respond similarly: eyes roll, lips sneer.

Some elected officials have talked about using their newfound influence to push for more English-as-a-second-language classes and a streamlining of the naturalization process, perhaps letting legal residents with a college degree including U.S. history forgo the test. But generally speaking, policies tailored specifically for the Latino community are not a high priority.

Like other Latino elected officials, Sanchez avoids special-interest topics. "The issues we talked about transcend [race]," she says of her campaign themes. "We talked about crime and schools. Everyone worries about those issues. It's more important to have food on the table than whether lesbians and gays hang in your district. It's more important to send kids to good schools than if you support a woman's right to choose."

The new member of the Congressional Latino Caucus ponders just what she owes to the Latino voters, immigrant and native-born, who she says produced about one-third of the votes for her historic victory. "Nothing more," she says, "than I owe anyone else in my district who voted for me or not."

For Republicans looking to recapture Latino voters, she couldn't have said anything more depressing.