Latinos, blacks seen as key to state props

all it an election-year twist of fate: Even as Barack Obama's historic candidacy is expected to draw a record number of Latinos and African-Americans to the polls, those same voters could help pass the statewide measures that oppose gay marriage and abortions for minors. Tony Castro in the Daily News.

Supporters of those two measures are making a strong pitch to Latino voters - especially immigrants who have become voting citizens - many of them Roman Catholics who oppose abortion and gay marriage.

The campaign for Proposition 8, which would ban gay marriage, has also targeted African-American voters, who some experts say traditionally have been religiously and culturally opposed to gay marriage.