Latin America trip stirs Chavez debate

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By Stephen Dinan

John McCain on Thursday finished a three-day presidential campaign trip to Latin America to mine the politics of free trade and foreign policy, but Republicans say the real vote mother lode may lie in the politics of a country he didn't visit - Venezuela, and its combative president, Hugo Chavez.

Republicans think U.S. Hispanic voters' antipathy to Mr. Chavez, particularly in Florida, can be connected to Sen. Barack Obama, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, who has promised to meet directly with Mr. Chavez.

"When you add [Mr. Obama's] comments on Chavez, visiting with [Fidel] Castro and against the free-trade agreement with Colombia - probably the most damaging - the rest of the pro-Hispanic rhetoric hits a skeptical audience," said former Florida Republican Party Chairman Al Cardenas.

The Hispanic vote is expected to be critical in the November election, and Mr. McCain has made a full-court press, running a series of Spanish-language Web, radio and television ads.

In a Web ad released Thursday, Frank Gamboa, a retired captain and Mr. McCain's roommate at the U.S. Naval Academy, says in Spanish that Mr. Obama "has just discovered the importance of the Hispanic vote."

In addition, Mr. McCain's three-day trip to Latin America involved meetings with leaders of two key U.S. allies: Mexican President Felipe Calderon and Colombian President Alvaro Uribe. The trip also produced key images such as photos of Mr. McCain visiting the Basilica of Guadalupe, an important pilgrimage site for Mexican Catholics.

Democrats accused Mr. McCain of taking politics overseas by criticizing Mr. Obama in an interview from Mexico City. They pointed out that the senator from Arizona was out of the country campaigning for free trade as a Labor Department report released Thursday showed a net loss of jobs in the U.S.

The Democratic National Committee called it "an out of touch moment for the ages," arguing that "scores of American jobs have fled" to Mexico under the North American Free Trade Agreement.

The Obama campaign said voters want the new foreign policy engagement that the senator from Illinois has promised.

"The question in this election is whether we continue the policies of the last eight years that have allowed Chavez to expand his influence in a vital region, or whether we turn the page on this failed approach. Senator Obama will use all the elements of our power to promote democracy and opportunity in the region," said Obama campaign spokesman Hari Sevugan.