Clinton Slams GOP Rival's Cuba Remark

Democratic Presidential hopeful, Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., answers questions during the televised Democratic presidential candidates debate at Howard University in Washington Thursday, June 28, 2007. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais) (Pablo Martinez Monsivais - AP)

Obama also promised a greater foreign policy focus on Latin America if elected president.

"It's not enough for us to have a Latin American policy based on not liking (Venezuelan president) Hugo Chavez and not liking Fidel Castro," Obama said.

Biden drew applause when he noted that as many as 40 percent of illegal immigrants were not Hispanic.

"It's a race to the bottom _ who out there can be the most anti-Hispanic," Biden said of the immigration debate. "Why is it we only view it through the prism of Spanish speaking people?"

Former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards told the crowd his rural hometown of Robbins, N.C. was now half Hispanic.

"They came for the same reason my parents came _ they wanted their children to have a better life," Edwards said.

Several of the candidates laced their remarks with Spanish, with varying degrees of success.

Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd, fully bilingual from his days as a Peace Corps volunteer in the Dominican Republic, cracked up the crowd when he told them, in Spanish, "I'm the only Gringo in the Senate" to speak the language.

Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich, saying he believed all American children should learn to speak Spanish, gave his closing statement in Spanish while apologizing in advance for his accent.

Audience members at first seemed unsure how to respond, but in the end appeared somewhat charmed at his efforts to soldier through.

"It worked, but barely," Democratic Texas State Rep. Rafael Anchia said of Kucinich's effort.

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson won cheers from the audience as the first Hispanic candidate to run for president. He, too, spoke Spanish to the crowd, calling them "Mi gente, mi familia" _ my people, my family.

"I'm not running as a Latino candidate. I'm running as an American governor who is enormously proud to be Latino," he told supporters.

A fluent Spanish speaker, Richardson called his supporters at the association "Mi gente, mi familia," _ my people, my family.

Florida, which intends to hold its important primary Jan. 29, is more than 20 percent Hispanic.

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Associated Press Writer Laura Wides-Munoz contributed to this report.