WASHINGTON, D.C. — The presumptive presidential candidates came to the 79th annual League of United Latin American Citizens Convention with a clear hope: Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama need the Latino vote to win in November. Someone, somewhere, told them that it would be next to impossible to occupy the White House without the approval of the country's fastest growing ethnic group (both candidates alluded to the fact)

By all indications last Tuesday, both candidates believed it.

Set aside the idea that it is mathematically possible to win the presidency without a single Latino vote, and ignore the fact that the Latino community is a culture not an ethnicity, and you have to admit that the McCain and Obama presence at the LULAC convention is impressive.

Four years ago, President Bush claimed he needed 40 percent of the Latino vote to be re-elected. The faulty statistical result of exit polls that year showed he got about 44 percent. The reality, without the numerical acrobatics used to get the official result, is that Bush got close to 35 percent of the Latino vote. The point implied but never made that year was that Latino voters are a big piece of the electoral strategy and an important variable of the vote calculus in presidential politics.

So McCain and Obama came to Washington to woo the membership of the oldest Latino organization in the country. And by the standards of appropriate courtship, they both did a good job. McCain was received with polite applause and courteous attention.

Truth be told, he's not a crowd-rousing orator, but he touched on all the right issues and smoothly sidestepped the topics that have the potential to trap him in an uncomfortable corner. He emphasized the troubled economy with a good mix of sympathy and outrage, and pointed to the strength of small business entrepreneurs as an integral part of the solution. He tugged at Latinos' deep sense of patriotism and national pride, signaling that he understood the truth about their feelings for their country.

On immigration, he moved back to the center and assured the audience that he had been a proponent of a comprehensive immigration reform all along. He sounded well-studied on Latino health care and education, and his audience was appreciative. In fact, the audience seemed genuinely grateful for his appearance at the convention, and lingered afterward for a chance to shake his hand and snap a photo.

Obama's speech later that afternoon was another of his signature audience-stirring deliveries. He's a much better speechifier than McCain, and he and his opponent both know it.

That may be why McCain repeatedly challenges Obama to a town hall meeting; McCain does better in a cozy, informal setting; it also gives him the opportunity to imply that his opponent is avoiding a direct confrontation on the issues. And, as expected, Obama roused the crowd into chants and cheers; any claim that Latinos may be averse to voting for a black candidate was dispelled by the crowd's reaction. But beyond his skill at speaking from a podium, Obama did well to touch on points that resonated throughout the room. To a hall filled with activists, he spoke of his beginnings as a community organizer, and he was careful to position himself in the light of personal understanding.

Like McCain, he pointed to the energy of small business as a major leverage in a tough economy. And he spoke to the issues of employment, education and health care as one who's spent time in the community trenches. He addressed immigration knowing that he spoke to a room where the issue is sensitive; he also called for comprehensive reform and a sensible path to citizenship. Obama understands his courtship of the Latino vote begins with gaining their trust, and his speech at the LULAC convention was a clear effort in that direction.

The winners at the end of the day were the hundreds of LULAC members who made the pilgrimage to the nation's capitol and for a week discussed the issues that affect them most. Their meeting with the candidates was a true slice of American politics, and it's been a long time coming.

vlanda@sbcglobal.net