THIS is Team Hillary's incredible groundgame in action

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As Puerto Ricans Move to Florida, the Clinton Campaign Is Waiting for Them

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KISSIMMEE, Fla. — Bilingual campaign workers fanned out across the event hall, clutching clipboards as they sought prospective voters to register. Handmade signs shot up from the crowd: “Latinos for Hillary” and “Estoy con ella!”

And from the stage at her rally here on Monday night, Hillary Clinton set aside time for “a special word about Puerto Rico.”

“If you live in Puerto Rico, you can’t vote for your president and commander in chief, right?” she reminded thousands of supporters, noting that she had worked closely with Puerto Ricans as a senator from New York. “But as an American citizen, if you move to Florida or New York, you can vote for the president and commander in chief.”

Indeed.

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In the Orlando area — which for years has been a de facto San Juan suburb, with an estimated 400,000 Puerto Ricans calling it home — the Clinton campaign has assigned organizers to neighborhoods, churches and even bus stops. “Caravanas” of cars blasting reggaeton music and reminders to vote call to mind similar processions through San Juan’s cobblestone streets during elections on the island.
When neighbors come outside to investigate the fuss, they are offered brochures about the candidate, known to many Latinos simply as “La Hillary,” and about her plans for education and health care.

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Some have not required prodding.

Fernando Ruiz, 39, said that registering to vote was among his first priorities after fleeing Toa Alta, P.R., last year amid the island’s debt crisis.

“There’s no excuse,” he said through an interpreter when asked why it was important to vote. “I came to the United States to progress.”

After finding work at a pizza restaurant, Mr. Ruiz said, he was quickly promoted to food preparer from dishwasher.

Esteban Garces, the Florida state director for Mi Familia Vota, a nonprofit that registers Hispanic voters, said the group expected to enroll 30,000 Latinos across five counties of Central Florida before Election Day. More than half, he said, were likely to be Puerto Rican.

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More recently, the Clinton campaign has invested in shoe-leather outreach.

On Wednesday, a campaign team held court at the entrance of a Walmart in Kissimmee, contending with humidity and flies while asking just about every passer-by about his or her registration status.

A day earlier, after meeting outside a laundromat near Miami’s Little Havana, in a neighborhood that includes a high concentration of both Cuban and non-Cuban Hispanics, three organizers canvassed the surrounding blocks.

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