AC

President Barack Obama's campaign on Wednesday launched an aggressive national effort to energize and rally Latino voters who could help him carry key states like Colorado, Florida or Nevada and hand him a second term. "This election is an opportunity for the Latino community in this country to send a message" by helping "someone who stands on our side," Democratic Senator Robert Menendez told reporters on a conference call to unveil "Latinos for Obama." "It's no secret that Latinos will be a deciding factor in this election," Obama campaign manager Jim Messina said on the same call. The campaign also launched Spanish-language television ads in Colorado, Florida, and Nevada that star Obama supporters touting the president's commitment to financial aid for students, his landmark health care overhaul, and his personal story. "The personal story of President Obama is a story of hard work, of struggle," organizer Lynette Acosta says in one of the ads. In 2008, Obama carried...