Democrats or Republicans, Latinas Are Swaying the Vote

Not at all, say the women. They were Latinas before they were Democrats or Republicans, and they share a bipartisan insight about their culture: Women are the values-keepers, message-bringers, decision makers. They make the men look good. They're vital to political conversation and conversion.

"In the Hispanic household, the whole household votes the way the woman votes," says Ellis, sporting a sparkling "McCain 2008" pin. "Men are the patriarchs. When it's time to serve dinner, the first steak goes to the head of the table, which is the man. But the steak was bought in the store the woman chose and fixed the way the woman wanted it to be cooked."

"In the Latino community, the woman in the family, the mother, plays a very important role," says Emma Violand-Sánchez, an organizer of Latinas Unidas por Obama, and a candidate for the Arlington school board.

She spent part of a recent Saturday canvassing registered Latino voters in Annandale. The women answering doors in a garden apartment complex invited her into their living rooms, where they would settle in for a chat in Spanish about kids, the future, the Democratic candidate.

"People underestimate the power of mujer-to-mujer, woman-to-woman," Violand-Sánchez says.

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Latinos make up fewer than 5 percent of eligible voters in Virginia, but with the state turning into a battleground, Latinos -- and therefore politically proselytizing Latinas -- could make a difference.

So activistas from Maryland and Washington are crossing the Potomac River to reinforce their sisters in the commonwealth. They are business owners, professionals, holders of graduate degrees -- women of accomplishment for whom political engagement is the luxury of a station in life where they have the understanding and wherewithal to influence events.

Laura Ramírez Drain, 42, grew up in Mexico, where she was a volunteer for the relatively conservative party of former president Vicente Fox. Her mother had a business designing wedding dresses. Her father was an opera tenor. Campesinos heading north spoke highly of a man named Ronald Reagan, who they said was a friend of immigrants and who enabled their self-reliant dreams. Later, she heard of Reagan's famous quip "Hispanics are Republicans, they just don't know it yet."

Drain got a job with Hewlett-Packard, which sent her to the United States to be a sales manager for the Southeast and then for Latin America. She settled in the Washington area, where she founded the Hispanic Professional Women Association and also a nonprofit group to help Latina high school students.

This year she became a citizen. She registered Republican. To her friends in the nonprofit world, most of whom are Democrats, "it was a shock," she says. "I lost a couple friends. I won over two or three Democrats."

One of her first political acts was becoming a delegate from Virginia to the Republican National Convention, and then she helped organize Latinas for McCain.