Clinton and Obama to compete for Texas Hispanic vote

By Daniel Trotta

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Hillary Clinton hammered Barack Obama in voting among Hispanic voters on "Super Tuesday" and he needs to spend more time and money courting them if he hopes to close the gap, political analysts say.

As expected, Clinton won big majorities of Latino voters in nearly all the 22 states participating in the Democratic presidential nominating contests, with exit polls showing her winning two-thirds of the Latino vote in several states.

That could pose a problem for Obama in the next big contest with Latino voters, on March 4 in Texas.

Clinton has long courted Hispanics, the fastest-growing segment of the electorate, and her superior name recognition combined with Obama's relatively late entry into national politics gives her a natural advantage.

In California, where a CNN exit poll showed Latinos accounted for 29 percent of Democratic voters, Clinton took 69 percent of their vote compared to 29 percent for Obama.

She won similar majorities in other states with big Hispanic populations like her home state of New York (73 to 26 percent) and neighboring New Jersey (68 to 30), according to the CNN and MSNBC exit polls.

Left unchanged, the Clinton advantage could carry into Texas, the second most populous state after California and where about one-fourth of registered voters are Hispanic.

However, with plenty of money to spend and a less crowded electoral calendar ahead, Obama can focus more attention on the Latinos of Texas than he did in California, if he chooses.