Democrats gathered Thursday night in Reading, Pa., as part of an effort to engage the Latino community in November's presidential election.
Latinos for Obama of Reading hosted nearly 30 volunteers and supporters at the Obama for America's South Fifth Street headquarters.
Jobs, the economy and immigration reform were the hot topics.
"What I care about most is jobs," said Teresa Zamora of Reading, a naturalized U.S. citizen who is originally from Ecuador. "Not just for Latinos but for everyone."
Many of the volunteers said the best way to address the issues important to Latinos was to re-elect the president.
Among them was Victoria Boeshore of Elizabethtown, Lancaster County, a naturalized citizen originally from Uruguay.
"I want to let him to finish the work he started," Boeshore said. "What he has done with health care is tremendous, and he needs four more years to finish the job."
The event's organizers invited Mayor Vaughn D. Spencer and Katherine Archuleta, Obama for America's national political director, to speak on the importance of the Latino vote in November.
Spencer told the audience: "It's important that we all get out, energize the base and get people to the polls. We're here to talk about the issues that impact the Latino community but you know one thing, the Latino community is no different than any other community here."
Spencer also addressed Pennsylvania's recently enacted voter ID law.
"This election is all about survival," Spencer said. "It's about an agenda out there by the Republican Party to, first of all, suppress the vote. We all know what's happening with the voter ID, and you know who's being targeted by the voter ID. It's people of color."
Contacted beforehand, Berks GOP Chairman Royal Furer addressed many of the issues raised at the rally.
Furer said the GOP also plans to target specific communities such as Latinos and that Latinos are no different from the population at large.
"Our strategy for the Latino community is that same for everyone else," he said. "We have yet to do anything specifically geared towards Latinos, but that would not change our message."
And he expressed confidence in the GOP's ability to appeal to Latino voters.
"We have Latinos working in our campaign and our momentum is very good," Furer said. "I am very confident that we will have a strong showing in Berks."
Regarding the voter ID law, he denied there was anything sinister about it.
"We like the voter ID bill," Furer said. "It is not an impossibility to get and ID and PennDOT has made it easy to get one."
