Obama has done several dozen interviews in Hispanic TV, print, wires and radio, Miranda said, and has fielded questions from Hispanic media outlets at news conferences. He’s also written opinion pieces for Hispanic newspapers.

One of Miranda’s most successful initiatives, Montenegro said, was ensuring that administration officials spoke to Hispanic media regardless of their fluency in Spanish.

“There’s a perception that Hispanic media will only talk to people who speak Spanish. But the president doesn’t, the House speaker doesn’t, but that doesn’t mean we can’t communicate and don’t want to speak to them,” she said. “Luis understood that, and did a good job of conveying that message.”

Miranda was the lead communications contact on immigration for the administration, and he helped champion Obama’s signature health care legislation.

The administration has set a standard for Hispanic press access that other administrations will be obliged to continue, said Federico Subervi, the director of the Center for the Study of Latino Media & Markets at the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Texas State University in San Marcos.

“They’ve set a solid foundation that others will be judged on,” he said. “Instead of an afterthought – ‘Hey, Jose, why don’t we translate this?’ – they have an entity dedicated to outreach.”

Subervi cited a number of factors, including the growth of Hispanic media and the increasing clout of the Hispanic voting bloc, for the administration’s outreach effort.

“And Latino leaders have put pressure on this administration to reach out and connect with them,” he said. “And they’ve done it more than any other administration.”

Miranda, whose last day in the White House was Friday, plans on staying in D.C. to do strategic consulting. The White House expects to fill his post, he said.

He graduated from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., and his grandparents lived in Hialeah, both north of Miami. He attended Florida Atlantic University, where he got involved in student government politics.

He later did an internship in Washington and worked for the Democratic National Committee. He went back to Miami for the 2000 Gore campaign, running the Miami-Dade field office. He also worked with the Service Employees International Union’s Florida State Council, helping to push a class-size cap into Florida’s Constitution.